Last Thursday evening, the human race lost an important member, Leonard Cohen, at age 82. He had a long and tremendously successful career, celebrated and appreciated by every one of his peers. He started out as a young poet, a novelist, then a song writer and a deeply reluctant (jump to the 3:32 mark) musical performer. It was this last talent that ironically became his most successful endeavor, giving the world so much beauty from an honest heart.
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Glen,
Thanks for the nice tribute to a truly great songwriter. Definitely one of my favorites and I think one of the 3 greatest of the last 50 years, the other 2 you mention: Dylan and Simon.
I don’t think you do justice to the song “The Future” though, which I think is one of the greatest songs of the 21st century and a truly prophetic look at where we are headed. I have never taken it that it is a demon who is the mouthpiece of this song, rather it is a prophetic utterance similar to the Biblical prophets-“the little Jew who wrote the Bible” of the inner mechanism of the modern soul. Surely a demon would not affirm that “love is the only thing that matters”. What he is describing is a world without love which ultimately leads to the future he is describing in remarkable detail. He even notes the sense of the loss of sin, when he speaks for the minions who have no conception of what “repent” might even mean: Repent from what? There is no such thing as sin… It is a great song, a remarkable song, but you may want to give it a few more listens as I think you will find it is not as you have characterized. It is an implicit, almost explicit, call to repentance, to return to the ancient Western code, to reestablish the order of the soul.
God bless,
Chris
Chris, I now have a new understanding of the song, thanks to you. Your’s is more thoughtful and full than mine. 🙂
thanks Chris!!