Leonard Cohen-The Old Revolution

[jif0riddim]

This man invents such beautiful lyrics and then sings them so beautifully too. Hey, is Joan Of Arc here somewhere? Who else can turn burning at the steak into a wedding ceremony? I'm still with you Leonard, just purchased "Old Ideas". Keep it going - please!

[1000SKYWAVE]

There is one small error in the listed lyrics:

"Now let me say I myself gave the order

to sleep and to search and to destroy."

Should read:

"Now let me say I myself gave the order

to SWEEP and to search and to destroy".

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[MJDivaRGB]

Love the Mouth Harp! Take a listen to our page for some Canadian BluesRockJazzy Originals!

[abasmonas]

so much soul.

[krj964]

could be about your child..the furnace..the world..? So bloody good, whatever the hell it means to my head, it means something to my soul!

[Minneapolishooker]

when I'm lost.. LC always, always, always leads me home.

[NotSoUniversal]

Sweet transitions...peel...keyhole n' shit...blowing my minnnnd

[dirksnider]

i fight for the new revolution.

- me whom you cannot betray

[CinnamonSex]

Into this furnace...the body

you whom I can not betray....the soul!

[CinnamonSex]

Life is damnation....And damnation doesn't have to be a bad thing.

[CinnamonSex]

Every damnation is poisoned with rainbows- BRILLIANT POETRY!

Like's Wordsworth's "sordid boon"

[funkeyjunk]

@hamletthunktoomuch this is the second album

[hamletthunktoomuch]

@funkeyjunk Yes, you are correct!

[kitefancy]

..............Shhhhhhh........­...............

[vigiliaysoma]

To all of my architects let me be traitor.

[Grelin1999]

A bit bad the last few seconds are cut off...

[EAMOOOO1]

that sound is touched with something I cant grasp but I like it. I could go on but I would be rambling and I cant do that.

[zeldagoblin]

sounds kinda like an old vinyl record.

[MyPrittstick]

@zeldagoblin thats probably because it was !

[spookshowman]

friends, you forget the mirrors

[marmcmick]

Dear Doc, Did you actually mean no, that it would not be presumtious of me to think the Cohen sings politically oriented songs. Yes, many, many folk tunes of days yore were very political. Look at many of B. Dylan''s tunes and Woody Guthrie tunes for example. Too numerous to count.

[marmcmick]

Would it be presumptions to think that because Cohen is a folk singer that he would sing "folk songs which are political?" I think not.

[DocZoid]

yes yes it would

[desowell]

which some killer will be liting for payeee

[louiseduvee]

This song is definitely a new favourite.

Thank you!

[bwrpwr]

No better artist period!

[geeim07]

I first heard this in 1969 and it just blew me away and it just gets better with time and without analysing it!!

[Eagleray99]

I love this song....no idea what it is about, but it ticks all my boxes. "The hand of your beggar is burdened down with money, the hand of your lover is clay" is such an evocative lyric. BTW, I always thought it was "Sweep and to search.....", but Leonardcohenfiles says "Sleep...".

[rinbar70]

"Sleep" doesn't make any sense; it must be "sweep." It's a combination of the terms "search and destroy" and "sweep and clear."

[Eagleray99]

I agree, but I am simply quoting the official lyrics. Perhaps it is a comic trap laid for us mere mortals to squabble about, a lyrical equivalent to a trompe l'oeil.

I have checked the official lyrics and about ten different lyric sites (OCD or what?) and they all say the same.

Ask Leonard!!

[Bobbyrock13]

Yep nice job posting this great song.

[mauxdivers]

best song ever

[rick5653]

Thank you for this,from my favorite L. Cohen album

[ciuffolina1]

is really the best I think...I love him

5 stars

[crystallove18]

this song makes me cry, because of its sweetness.

[uclrichard]

this song is about the idea/paradox of a righteous war.

personally, i think the iraq war was not worth the death toll...

but the war against the taliban is as justified as the war against HITLER.

we should not betray our soldiers in afghanistan just because we don't like the government.

we should support the work they are doing in preventing the most dangerous fascists in this world since the nazis...

i'm a liberal, BTW - and english.

[bwrpwr]

Christ, even when I just want to hear some Cohen, I find the support our troops/war in Iraq stuff. How about we keep the political stuff in areas where it's meant to be.

[MindaBlaze]

lol shhh

[lilifyre]

That's probably because the song is about war and political stuff. Maybe something like "Fingerprints" is more to your liking.

[electricdreamdesigns]

Actually this song is written from the point of view of a defeated royalist, it was written in & recorded in 1968 and has NOTHING to do with the "War in Iraq"

[bwrpwr]

I didn't say it did. I am talking to the people in this post that are bringing up the Iraq war. I know Cohen wasn't talking about it.

[welwise]

many thanks

[Eagleray99]

I love this song and think it would make a great cover if someoneone gave it a rock treatment. I know that sounds a bit sacriligeous (and I love this version) but it has a great great riff on it.

[WolverineDeus]

The last line of the third verse should be:

"to sweep and to search and to destroy".

It has its origins in the terminology of the Vietnam War, during the official Daily Press Briefings (known as the "Saigon Follies") and described US military operations known as "Sweeps" on missions known as "Search & Destroy".

[MrBunberry]

The line is correctly quoted as 'To sleep and to search and to destroy'. I have played the song for years and I have his songbook in front of me.

[WolverineDeus]

MrBunberry,

The only problem with your conclusion is that it makes absolutely no sense. Given the context of the song and the historical backdrop of its origins, "sweep" has to be the correct derivation, as "sleep" makes the entire verse nonsensical.

"I myself gave the order to sleep"? Gimme a break, dude.

[MrBunberry]

It makes every sense if you recognise that the Old Revolution is also about the destructive nature of sexual relationships. Which prison do you think he is talking about in the first three lines? Every committed relationship is like a prison -- that's the nature of commitment -- and yet, again and again we break into that prison to enjoy the rainbows. "The hand of your lover is clay ... Into this furnace..."  Besides, you can clearly hear Leonard sing 'sleep' not 'sweep'.

[lloplop]

owned.

[patsxskip]

@WolverineDeus it is sweep skipxpats

[WolverineDeus]

@patsxskip Thank you!

[sardonicblues25]

My late-night drunken lullaby...so consumingly serene. Thank you.

[fioremichel]

Thanks for posting all this great music..."COHEN is one of the best poets, if not the best". Love Fiore:).

[Jengirl92]

My favorite song!

[jesuschristison]

I love this song, im so glad you posted it nd the lyrics.

[jesuschristison]

I love this song, im so glad you posted it nd the lyrics.

[grannypoe]

Thanks for sharing