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The Music of Leonard Cohen "Democracy"

 
 
Reply Wed 4 Jan, 2006 02:56 pm
Are there any Leonard Cohen fans in the group? I just heard Thom Hartmann play the song "Democracy" on his talk show and I love this song!

I've heard Leonard Cohen's music in several movies but I've never heard it on the radio before.

He has a deep voice and a somber slow mood to his songs. I guess he would fit mostly into the Alternative category but I doubt that he would appeal to most Alternative fans.

Leonard Cohen - Democracy

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tienanmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 962 • Replies: 5
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timberlandko
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2006 07:25 pm
A while back, on a thread started by edgarblythe[/i],
[url=http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=975751#975751]timber[/url] wrote:
... I'd read some of Cohen's poetry before I first heard him sing. It was in a dark, smoky cellar club, in the winter of '68. He wore Levis, and a suede-elbowed tweed sports jacket over a thickly ribbed deep grey turtleneck. A piano, an upright base viol, a saxophone, a sultry backup singer of faintly Eurasian appearance and distinctly French-Canadian accent who doubled on the tamborine formed the group. The voice was exactly as I'd imagined it would be ... his sound was smokey and whiskey-soaked, wistful and wondering, comforting and questioning at once, and he spoke to me as I had thought no one could. He opened with Bird on a Wire, which he said was a new song, from an album due out tin the spring, and by the first chorus, the chatter and clatter of the club had died. He sang from a tall stool, and smoked between songs, and chatted a bit, sipping from a glass of un-iced dark amber liquid. I don't remember what all the songs of that set were, but I remember everyone LISTENED. He closed with Suzanne. The stage lights dimmed, went dark, you could hear your partner breath. Seconds went by, it seemed like many, but prolly wasn't, then a slow, rhythmic clapping began to punctuate the silence, swelling quickly to as much of an uproar as 70 or 80 folks could produce. The stage lights came up once more, the group taking up their places. Cohen, now coatless, stepped back to the stool, looking very much as though he had not expected to be called on for an encore. He politely thanked the smallish, once again thoroughly attentive audience, and sang The Stranger Song. The audience wanted more when he finished, but the headline act was paid for and ready to play. I don't remember who they were, or what they played. I bought Songs of Leonard Cohen the next morning, and have collected every recording and book I have been able to find since. I've seen him perform a few more times, and have always been more than satisfied, but you never forget your first. I've never seen Edit Piaff perform live, but I imagine it would have been much the same.

Thanks, Leonard.

Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien.


Check out the thread - I think you'll enjoy it.
0 Replies
 
dyslexia
 
  1  
Reply Thu 5 Jan, 2006 07:30 pm
like a bird on a wire.
0 Replies
 
roverroad
 
  1  
Reply Fri 6 Jan, 2006 05:17 am
Thanks, I will check out the post.
0 Replies
 
youngthinker
 
  1  
Reply Sat 7 Jan, 2006 10:22 pm
Everybody Knows is good too.
0 Replies
 
roverroad
 
  1  
Reply Sun 8 Jan, 2006 05:25 am
young_thinker wrote:
Everybody Knows is good too.


That is a good song, but I think I like the way Concrete Blond sings it a little bit better, though both versions are great.
0 Replies
 
 

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