Woke Up this Morning
Leonard Cohen Lyrics

And after three days of drinkin' with Larry Love, I just get an inklin' to go on home.
After partying for three days with Larry Love, I suddenly feel like going home.

So, I'm walkin' down Coldharbour Lane, head hung low, three or four in the mornin'. The sun's comin' up and the birds are out singing. I let myself into my pad. Wend myself up that spiral staircase and stretch out nice on the Chesterfield.
The singer walks home with a heavy heart, early in the morning. He describes his route home in detail and relaxes on his couch listening to jazz music.

Pithecanthropus Erectus already on the CD player and I just push that remote button to sublimity. And listen to the sweet sculptural rhythms of Charles Mingus. And J.R. Monterose and Jackie McLean duet on those saxophones and, the sound makes its way out the window minglin' with the traffic noises outside you know, and all of a sudden I'm overcome by a feelin' of brief mortality.
The singer presses play on his CD player and savors the artistic sounds of jazz musicians like Charles Mingus, J.R. Monterose, and Jackie McLean. The sounds escape through the window and mix with outside noises, as the singer experiences a rush of introspection and vulnerability.

'Cause I'm gettin' on in the world, comin' up on forty-one years. Forty-one stony gray steps towards the grave, you know, the box awaits its grisly load. Now I'm gonna be food for worms.
The artist reflects on his life at forty-one years old and his eventual death, the inevitable destination of every person.

And just like Charles Mingus wrote that beautiful piece of music 'Epitaph' for Eric Dolphy, I say, so long Eric. So long John Coltrane and Charles Mingus. So long Duke Ellington and Lester Young. So long Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald. So long Jimmy Reed. So long Muddy Waters, and so long Howlin' Wolf.
The artist compares his goodbye to the jazz musicians he admires and considers his mortality to those of the musicians who immortalized their art, including Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Duke Ellington, and many others.