Can you tell me why the bells are ringing?
Nothing’s happened in a million years
I’ve been sitting here since Wednesday morning
Wednesday morning can’t believe my ears
Jazz police are looking through my folders
Jazz police are talking to my niece
Jazz police have got their final orders
Jazzer, drop your axe, it’s Jazz police!
Jesus taken serious by the many
Jesus taken joyous by a few
Jazz police are paid by J.P. Getty
Jazzers paid by J. Paul Getty II
Jazz police I hear you calling
Jazz police I feel so blue
Jazz police I think I’m falling,
I’m falling for you
Wild as any freedom loving racist
I applaud the actions of the chief
Tell me now oh beautiful and spacious
Am I in trouble with the Jazz police?
Jazz police are looking through my folders ...
They will never understand our culture
They’ll never understand the Jazz police
Jazz police are working for my mother
Blood is thicker margarine than grease
Let me be somebody I admire
Let me be that muscle down the street
Stick another turtle on the fire
Guys like me are mad for turtle meat
Jazz police I hear you calling
Jazz police I feel so blue
Jazz police I think I’m falling,
I’m falling for you
Co-written by Jeff Fisher, this song’s origins lie in artistic arguments between Cohen and his musicians during the recording of I’m Your Man. The band would try to infiltrate augmented fifths and sevenths into the music, at which Cohen would object that he didn’t want that kind of jazzy sound on his songs. Teased for being a “jazz policeman”, he decided to incorporate their banter into a song. J. Paul Getty I (1892-1976) was an American industrialist, reputedly the richest living American in 1957. His son, J. Paul Getty II (1932-2003), was a philanthropist, book collector and cricket lover.