Avg rating:
Your rating:
Total ratings: 4170
Length: 6:38
Plays (last 30 days): 0
my mirrored room, my secret life
it's lonely here,
there's no one left to torture
Give me absolute control
over every living soul
And lie beside me, baby,
that's an order!
Give me crack and anal sex
Take the only tree that's left
and stuff it up the hole
in your culture
Give me back the Berlin Wall
give me Stalin and St. Paul
I've seen the future, brother:
it is murder.
Things are going to slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
The blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it's overturned
the order of the soul
When they said REPENT
I wonder what they meant
When they said REPENT
I wonder what they meant
When they said REPENT
I wonder what they meant
You don't know me from the wind
you never will, you never did
I'm the little Jew
who wrote the bible
I've seen the nations rise and fall
I've heard their stories, heard them all
but love's the only engine of survival
Your servant here, he has been told
to say it clear, to say it cold:
It's over, it ain't going
any further
And now the wheels of heaven stop
you feel the devil's riding crop
Get ready for the future:
it is murder
Things are going to slide in all directions...
There'll be the breaking of the ancient
western code
Your private life will suddenly explode
There'll be phantoms
there'll be fires on the road
and the white man dancing
You'll see the woman
hanging upside down
her features covered by her fallen gown
and all the lousy little poets
coming around
trying to sound like Charlie Manson.
Give me back the Berlin Wall
Give me Stalin and St. Paul
Give me Christ
or give me Hiroshima
Destroy another fetus now
We don't like children anyhow
I've seen the future, baby:
it is murder
Things are going to slide in all directions...
Here's an excerpt from Cohen's Wikipedia page:'The critic Bruce Eder assessed Cohen's overall career in popular music by asserting that " one of the most fascinating and enigmatic ... singer/songwriters of the late '60s ... has retained an audience across four decades of music-making.... Second only to Bob Dylan (and perhaps Paul Simon) , he commands the attention of critics and younger musicians more firmly than any other musical figure from the 1960s who is still working at the outset of the 21st century."'
— Wikipedia: Leonard Cohen
Radio Paradise gives you a lot of music you love. It also introduces you to artists you may not love, but that have influenced, probably, the artists you love. Musicians draw inspiration from other musicians, poets, writers, painters, photographers, films, and who knows what. Leonard Cohen is, and for a long time has been, revered by many but most signicantly by other artists for his lyrics particularly as well as his song craftmanship.
This will not make you like Cohen, or any music you don't like, I get that. But many listeners appreciate the well-curated playlists which include currently and historically influential musicians that shape and shaped the music we enjoy today.
Great post, easmann, but I lean with aaronm and jmassoglia when it comes to actually listening to Leonard for more than one song at a time. FWIW his early hits "Suzanne" and "So Long Marianne" still stop me in my tracks.
Unsettling.
Yup. Hearing such beautiful music juxtaposed over such dark (and probably accurate) lyrics is very unsettling.
Maybe it will unsettle us enough to do something about it.
Exactly.
"give me back Stalin" Are you kidding me. Stalin murdered 20 M. This lyric seems to want to bring back the Golden Age when Mao (killed 45 M) and Hitler (killed 11 M). What am I missing here guys?
Apparently all of it, unfortunately
This song and album are why I think Leonard Cohen deserves a Nobel Prize as much as Bob Dylan. His lyrics are so precise. They are like a scalpel that exposes the illness at the core of modern culture. Beautiful and frightening all at once. A 10 all the way.
Sadly, Nobel Prizes cannot be awarded posthumously, we must be content with Dylan's.
Is it just me but are Canadian artists on RP disproportionally hit with 1's 2's and 3's such that it affects the average? Joni gets it Rush gets it and also Bruce Cockburn and Cohen. I don't get the need. If I don't like a song I don't rate it.
It's you. I see nothing to support your claim and deeply appreciate three of the four you cite. I think you are projecting something or other. Do you think that Europeans have it in for Canadians? Probably explains what you sense.
TRASH - PSD
So sorry, Leonard's music is intended for adults.
Now run along and play with your Lego; there's a good boy.
It's not that I dislike the song, it's just not something I need to hear every week.
Is it just me but are Canadian artists on RP disproportionally hit with 1's 2's and 3's such that it affects the average? Joni gets it Rush gets it and also Bruce Cockburn and Cohen. I don't get the need. If I don't like a song I don't rate it.
Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a rating system that ranges from 1 to 10?
Is it just me but are Canadian artists on RP disproportionally hit with 1's 2's and 3's such that it affects the average? Joni gets it Rush gets it and also Bruce Cockburn and Cohen. I don't get the need. If I don't like a song I don't rate it.
RichW whenever i hear leonard cohen or the cowboy junkies, i rate them at 8 or above, because they are both really good
I don't know how someone with such a terrible voice, simple chord progression and pretty basic musicianship can do such an incredible song.
genius?
nope Leonard really blows goats
that was 10 minutes of dross in my ears I could have done without
Gee, what kind of simpleton spends 10 minutes listening to something they don't like. Wait a minute . . . it's the same kind of simpleton who thinks anyone else cares what they think!
It's okay, you can go back and listen to your 38 Special Greatest Hits cassette anytime you like.
i wish i could do that
Just tried it - and much as though I like the Thompson family's output, Teddy's version signally lacks the bite of Leonard's original. Maybe his dad would give it a bit more bite and blackness. Perhaps Leonard's ouvre, like Dylan's, works best with limited singers!
So sorry, Leonard's music is intended for adults.
Now run along and play with your Lego; there's a good boy.
nope Leonard really blows goats
that was 10 minutes of dross in my ears I could have done without
He's making fun of Chris Rea.
Try listening to his 'Shamrock Diaries' before write anything like this again.
Jesus, I do hear Chris Rea.
Musical coincidence, I'm sure.
I love Natural Born Killers.
Does it really need an explanation?
Your servant here, he has been told
to say it clear, to say it cold:
It's over, it ain't going
any further
And now the wheels of heaven stop
you feel the devil's riding crop
Get ready for the future:
it is murder
This one has grown old and bitter.
Try listening to his 'Shamrock Diaries' before write anything like this again.
You miss understand the entire song.... He is mirroring us and consequences. He is not advocating.
The future is now.
I think Cohen is also singing the Judeo-Christian apocalyptic vision along the lines of the Book of Revelation.... This song is awesome.
You miss understand the entire song.... He is mirroring us and consequences. He is not advocating.
The future is now.
Point of view BillE - broaden your mind to understand, LC was a brilliant poet albeit critical at times.
So sorry, Leonard's music is intended for adults.
Now run along and play with your Lego; there's a good boy.
Utilizing convicted mass murderer Manson in one's lyrics is so Adult
The woman in blue, she's asking for revenge,
the man in white -- that's you -- says he has no friends.
The river is swollen up with rusty cans
and the trees are burning in your promised land.
And there are no letters in the mailbox,
and there are no grapes upon the vine,
and there are no chocolates in the boxes anymore,
and there are no diamonds in the mine.
If you're a Leonard Cohen fan, look up the memorial concert that was done in Montreal on Youtube. Some very good covers of his work.
I also recommend the movie Leonard and Marianne to Cohen fans.
I've heard their stories, heard them all
but love's the only engine of survival”
It’s the same secret message the sages have whispered for many, many years. The same one we know in our hearts is true even while we scoff at it, or simply ignore it, at our increasing peril. While rough beasts race towards Bethlehem on a 24 hour news cycle.
Spare us.
I've heard their stories, heard them all
but love's the only engine of survival”
It’s the same secret message the sages have whispered for many, many years. The same one we know in our hearts is true even while we scoff at it, or simply ignore it, at our increasing peril. While rough beasts race towards Bethlehem on a 24 hour news cycle.
The entire show is amazing!
(See 27 mins)
https://gem.cbc.ca/media/cbc-music-specials/season-2017/tower-of-song--a-memorial-tribute-to-leonard-cohen/38e815a-00d99b3c4e3
Too eclectic for ya, eh? Too bad for you....this LC song is great....anal sex and all....Long Live RP!!
There's a distinction between "speechless" and "breathless". I'm neither, but someone, at that link, seems to be breathless.
that and Vienna Teng.... soooo painful
I wanted to put it in words, using my best english, but I'm not sure I can.
Just this, each time I hear this song coming up whatever it is I'm doing, I'm seized, frozen. I wish he is wrong, It's just exorcising poetry, isn't it
Speechless.
Never heard of the whole affair, but it does cast a very different light on him. Sad, but the future he sings about is already here.
Well, that is one interpretation.
cheers to that
❤️
The first one given to a poet singer-songwriter should have gone to Leonard Cohen. No disrespect intended for Bob Dylan.
It is murder.
Things are going to slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
The blizzard of the world has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned the order of the soul
RIP Mr. Cohen
You will be missed.
I m with You. Wow, He has worn my ass out this one. This was such a beautiful day here in downtown Washington until the mushroom cloud appeared.
I love U Leonard. 9 4me
Right On!!
Yes!! My thoughts exactly! He is a genius. R.I.P.
I m with You. Wow, He has worn my ass out this one. This was such a beautiful day here in downtown Washington until the mushroom cloud appeared.
I love U Leonard. 9 4me
Ha!!!
So what if he doesn't have a great voice, "it's only rock and roll"!
"clink" cheers jimtyrrell : )
Agree.
Cohen left the Buddhist monastery where he lived after having discovered that his manager, Kelley Lynch, had stolen almost all his money. The result - new songs, and a world tour. Not bad considering he's in his 80's. The London concert is on film, an absolute masterpiece of music, soul, and cinematography. Never have I seen an artist so gracious and generous in crediting his most excellent side men (and women!).
OK, the prison had been decommissioned, but nevertheless.
But i love the songs of Leonard.
Love hearing both Waits and Leonard Cohen on RP!
me, Chris Rea :-D
Love hearing both Waits and Leonard Cohen on RP!
Skydog wrote:
translation;
I 'd rather hear a thousand hyenas drives a collapsing crane to 52nd Street .
Or does Lin mean I'd rather be on the Road to Hell with Chris Rea? Because that's what I think of when hearing this song.
3 plays in the last 30 days. What don't you understand about "eclectic" and the PSD button (Play Something Different) button?
What?
translation;
I 'd rather hear a thousand hyenas drives a collapsing crane to 52nd Street .
I've just finished reading Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods'.
This is just the feel of the book!
Your translation program does not work properly. What kind of German is your phrase supposed to be ?
Leonard cohen doesn't even listen to leonard cohen
Stunning — a 9. I first heard it in an open air market in Berlin and I stopped walking, frozen on the spot, as the rigor of his voice belied the movement in the verse. "When they said, repent... repent... I wondered what they meant." I didn't move until the song finished. And then I walked home without speaking to anyone.
This song? Really?