 The Future (1992) [ larger cover art ] |
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Give me back my broken night
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...
| ddbz (The Midwest) | Posted: Jun 10, 2013 - 20:24 OK, this is the 11th time I have heard this song and I officially I have to give it an un- offiicial, (not above--still a 6.599) Very Good, Play Again |
| Lazarus (Bethany) | Posted: May 21, 2013 - 20:40 love this marvelous nihilistic song... time flies when we're having fun... "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" |
| milleronic (Minnesota) | Posted: Apr 20, 2013 - 13:14 Jelani wrote: I love the way this song ends. I love that it ends. |
| max_p | Posted: Mar 08, 2013 - 08:44 Those Malboro reds in the photo speak volumes |
| Lazarus (Bethany) | Posted: Jan 04, 2013 - 16:49 Everybody in my church loves this song... |
| helgigermany (Germany) | Posted: Nov 03, 2012 - 00:10 SweTex wrote: One of the only lyrics that matters. One of the best poets in music business! |
| Jelani (Home of the freak, land of the vague) | Posted: Oct 14, 2012 - 07:23 calypsus_1 wrote:  Leonard Cohen by Iconista Kate http://www.flickr.com/photos/iconista/ 6 Jan 1988, Trouville, France —- Canadian singer, songwriter, composer, writer and poet Leonard Cohen during the filming of a music clip by the French photographer Dominique Issermann. —- Image by ——————————————————————— I remember you well in the chelsea hotel You were famous, your heart was a legend..... Glorious Vintage  All rights reservedI don't know how to cope with this. |
| Jelani (Home of the freak, land of the vague) | Posted: Oct 14, 2012 - 07:19 I love the way this song ends. |
| Megavolt | Posted: Oct 14, 2012 - 07:16 Now *this* is a prophecy. |
| helgigermany (Germany) | Posted: Oct 14, 2012 - 07:15 good rotation! |
| On_The_Beach (The Blue Planet) | Posted: Sep 12, 2012 - 17:57 thais wrote: One of the major achievements of the 60´s (in the music field) to the human culture is that the worth of an artist is if he/she has something to say and not only if he/she is able to sing accordingly to the " standard musical education". Right, if he/she can not sing at all, is far better to give songs to others that can do it. However, if he/she can sing even in a basic way (very basic, most of the times) is allowed to sing his/her own song, because nobody than the author knows the real meaning of a particular song. There are lots of people whose have very "educated" voices, but nothing to say. L. Cohen has lots to say. Worth a bump for sure. I get so tired of the whiners who say "(insert name here) can't sing" which almost always means they don't have a pretty voice. Give me Dylan, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen (et al), who sing with actual emotion and vulnerability, over the perfect , calculated, auto-tuned, bland, plastic voices that the masses seem to love so much. Not sayin' you gotta like Cohen's voice, just don't tell me he "can't sing". |
| TerryS (Another SW) | Posted: Sep 12, 2012 - 17:54 A dirge. Unforgettable. Unrepented, me. |
| Proclivities (Carrboro, NC) | Posted: Aug 12, 2012 - 06:32 scraig wrote: you continually posting the wonderful lyrics doesn't take away from the fact that Leonard CAN NOT SING! Everyone can't be Josh Groban or Celine Dion - thankfully. |
| ckcotton (Adding snarky comments since 2007) | Posted: Jul 11, 2012 - 19:58 God this song is looong......... And not in a good way |
| SweTex (Swede living in Texas) | Posted: Jul 11, 2012 - 19:52 One of the only lyrics that matters. |
| Hpverbier | Posted: Jun 30, 2012 - 04:58 |
| ScottN (Condo in Gaza full time now. Thank TFSM I saw the divot where the landmine was placed.) | Posted: Jun 10, 2012 - 04:07 His recent live version is perhaps his best and most compelling version of this excellent song. In fact, that can be said for much of LC's work.— his most recent live release has some of his best performances of his songs. |
| AndyJ (Oregon) | Posted: May 09, 2012 - 08:56 He also goes well with a glass of whiskey or two... That's when he seems to have been reading your mind. lemmoth wrote: Amen brother, or sister, this is rock and roll or pop music dammit - it ain't opera. |
| lemmoth (NYC) | Posted: May 09, 2012 - 08:53 thais wrote: One of the major achievements of the 60´s (in the music field) to the human culture is that the worth of an artist is if he/she has something to say and not only if he/she is able to sing accordingly to the " standard musical education". Right, if he/she can not sing at all, is far better to give songs to others that can do it. However, if he/she can sing even in a basic way (very basic, most of the times) is allowed to sing his/her own song, because nobody than the author knows the real meaning of a particular song. There are lots of people whose have very "educated" voices, but nothing to say. L. Cohen has lots to say. Amen brother, or sister, this is rock and roll or pop music dammit - it ain't opera. |
| optimeyes4u (Surf City USA) | Posted: Apr 27, 2012 - 13:57 neuticle wrote: And Neil Young tell it to Dylan and T Waits |
| djengs | Posted: Apr 27, 2012 - 13:56 Had the sound down- thought it was Chris Rea |
| rdo (DC) | Posted: Apr 27, 2012 - 13:54 Odds are improving all the time against the chances of dying a violent, painful death. People always bring up the many horrors of the 20th century, but the world population was so much higher, that, as a percentage, the violent death rate was a lot lower than had been historically. |
| BikeCoachDave (Columbia, Ky.) | Posted: Apr 27, 2012 - 13:54 Does nothing for me at all. No range, no feeling, no......nothing. I got nothing. 2 |
| max_p | Posted: Apr 27, 2012 - 13:52 it is music, but enuf of this guy already on RP |
| thais | Posted: Jan 23, 2012 - 11:29 scraig wrote: you continually posting the wonderful lyrics doesn't take away from the fact that Leonard CAN NOT SING! One of the major achievements of the 60´s (in the music field) to the human culture is that the worth of an artist is if he/she has something to say and not only if he/she is able to sing accordingly to the " standard musical education". Right, if he/she can not sing at all, is far better to give songs to others that can do it. However, if he/she can sing even in a basic way (very basic, most of the times) is allowed to sing his/her own song, because nobody than the author knows the real meaning of a particular song. There are lots of people whose have very "educated" voices, but nothing to say. L. Cohen has lots to say. |
| (former member) (hotel in Las Vegas) | Posted: Jan 23, 2012 - 11:14 Everybody in my hotel room loves this nihilistic song... |
| ick (...out of the primordial ooze) | Posted: Jan 03, 2012 - 11:19 I like it. I like it a lot. Harbinger of doom? Soothsayer? Priest? |
| 1wolfy (Mission Viejo California) | Posted: Dec 02, 2011 - 16:57 me no likey much anymore |
| neuticle (fog fog fog) | Posted: Dec 02, 2011 - 16:53 scraig wrote: you continually posting the wonderful lyrics doesn't take away from the fact that Leonard CAN NOT SING! tell it to Dylan and T Waits |
| juanos (Somewhere between the US and Guatemala) | Posted: Oct 20, 2011 - 09:53 scraig wrote: you continually posting the wonderful lyrics doesn't take away from the fact that Leonard CAN NOT SING! That's probably what makes his songs/pomes even better |
| scraig (Santa Barbara, CA) | Posted: Oct 20, 2011 - 09:48 you continually posting the wonderful lyrics doesn't take away from the fact that Leonard CAN NOT SING! |
| calypsus_1 | Posted: Oct 05, 2011 - 11:51 Leonard Cohen by Iconista Kate http://www.flickr.com/photos/iconista/ 6 Jan 1988, Trouville, France —- Canadian singer, songwriter, composer, writer and poet Leonard Cohen during the filming of a music clip by the French photographer Dominique Issermann. —- Image by ——————————————————————— I remember you well in the chelsea hotel You were famous, your heart was a legend..... Glorious Vintage All rights reserved |
| calypsus_1 | Posted: Sep 18, 2011 - 19:18 LEONARD COHEN LIVE IN LONDON | Democracy | PBS: |
| leap (Ibagué, Tolima.) | Posted: Sep 18, 2011 - 18:10  |
| helgigermany (Germany) | Posted: Aug 29, 2011 - 23:24 V-bro wrote: I don't mind hearing this from time to time, the poetry IS brilliant BUT.... like there's 'music for the millions' I feel this is a bit of 'music for the old farts'.... makes me feel like one...  How old are you? |
| V-bro (Amsterdam) | Posted: Aug 29, 2011 - 23:22 I don't mind hearing this from time to time, the poetry IS brilliant BUT.... like there's 'music for the millions' I feel this is a bit of 'music for the old farts'.... makes me feel like one... |
| adroc (slightly left of centre) | Posted: Aug 18, 2011 - 09:07 Poacher wrote: I think its worth posting the lyrics. For me anyway, I think our Len might have written it for the times that are about to hit us. . . Give me back my broken night my mirrored room, my secret life it's lonely here, there's no one left to torture Give me absolute control over every other living soul And lie beside me, baby, that's an order! Give me crack and anal sex Take the only tree that's left 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, slide in all directions Won't be nothing Nothing you can measure anymore The blizzard, the blizzard of the world has crossed the threshold and it has overturned the order of the soul When they said REPENT REPENT I wonder what they meant When they said REPENT REPENT I wonder what they meant When they said REPENT REPENT I wonder what they meant. You don't know me from the wind you never will, you never did I was 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 ... 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 a white man dancing You'll see a woman hanging upside down her features covered by her fallen gown and all the lousy little poets coming round tryin' to sound like Charlie Manson and the white man dancin'. 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 ... When they said REPENT REPENT ... It doesn't get any better than that. |
| rdo (DC) | Posted: Aug 18, 2011 - 09:04 cheerful  |
| fredriley (Nottingham, UK) | Posted: Jun 16, 2011 - 07:54 Cynaera wrote: An eerie, unnervingly accurate description of what's happening in the world today, as Poacher said earlier. Impossible for me to turn a deaf ear to this message, especially in light of the tragedy in Japan. There are conspiracy-theorists out there who believe the quake was not "natural," but an ungodly act of sabotage in an effort to make Japan an object-lesson.  I love Leonard Cohen, but sometimes his lyrics just creep me out...I think that's his intention, to disturb his listeners and make them think. His voice helps towards this, being so low as to be nearly subsonic, and low frequencies are known to engender disquiet and fear. 9 from the disturbed Nottingham jury. |
| Dinges,_the_Dude (under sea-level, N52°22', E4°52') | Posted: Jun 16, 2011 - 07:49 The beginning of the song reminds me of a song from the latest album of Tom Petty... |
| (former member) (hotel in Las Vegas) | Posted: May 27, 2011 - 12:34 This song is a beautiful celebration of nihilism... love it... |
| Sjaaks (Horst, Netherlands) | Posted: Apr 14, 2011 - 03:29 aaronm wrote: I agree that the lyrics are brilliant, but I just absolutely do not connect with the musical (muzak-al?) part of this song. For my money, it works infinitely better as a poem than as a song — or at the very least, a song sung, to this tune, sung by Cohen. +1 Hate this song in terms of its musical aspects... 3 |
| gabrielle7nt (Palo Alto, CA) | Posted: Mar 25, 2011 - 09:00 Cynaera wrote: An eerie, unnervingly accurate description of what's happening in the world today, as Poacher said earlier. Impossible for me to turn a deaf ear to this message, especially in light of the tragedy in Japan. There are conspiracy-theorists out there who believe the quake was not "natural," but an ungodly act of sabotage in an effort to make Japan an object-lesson. I love Leonard Cohen, but sometimes his lyrics just creep me out...Why so cynical? Japan is drowning in deflation..... and war and natural disasters are highly inflationary. |
| Cynaera (South of Neanderthal) | Posted: Mar 13, 2011 - 16:22 An eerie, unnervingly accurate description of what's happening in the world today, as Poacher said earlier. Impossible for me to turn a deaf ear to this message, especially in light of the tragedy in Japan. There are conspiracy-theorists out there who believe the quake was not "natural," but an ungodly act of sabotage in an effort to make Japan an object-lesson. I love Leonard Cohen, but sometimes his lyrics just creep me out... |
| tonypf (Honolulu) | Posted: Mar 13, 2011 - 16:15 This guy deserves all the accolades he has been getting for 40+ years. All that and a Buddhist to boot. Rock on! |
| HazzeSwede (Vinyl Land) | Posted: Feb 10, 2011 - 07:32 The music is brilliant,the more I hear it, the more I like it. |
| aaronm (Eugene, Oregon) | Posted: Dec 09, 2010 - 10:24 I agree that the lyrics are brilliant, but I just absolutely do not connect with the musical (muzak-al?) part of this song. For my money, it works infinitely better as a poem than as a song — or at the very least, a song sung, to this tune, sung by Cohen. |
| Beclipsed (Germany) | Posted: Nov 19, 2010 - 13:24 Micky and Mallory Knox did it !!! |
| alph (Honolulu) | Posted: Nov 19, 2010 - 13:24 I always expect to hear the Robert Downey Jr. bit after this song ends. |
| lemmoth (NYC) | Posted: Nov 01, 2010 - 14:50 Please don't give me crack and anal sex, but to each his own  I do get Leonard's point though, I think. |