Everybody Knows

[Yog]

One of the things that rattle about in my head—sometimes to the point of distracting me from being able to write—is:

Leonard Cohen

Everybody Knows
from I'm Your Man

LYRICS

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows


Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died


Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows


Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows


Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows


Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows


And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows


And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows


And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows


Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows


Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows


Everybody knows

[Jay]

Had never heard that song before ... just listened to it ... I can see why it would get stuck in your head. Its different.

[Yog]

It's no wonder that you haven't heard of him or this song; Leonard Cohen has never been hugely popular. I do like his folk rock style and have to break out an album of his and listen to it every now and then. I tend to find that he is stronger lyrically than most song-writers and thus his works are often a good read as well as fun to listen to.

Incidentally, he was recently voted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame.

[Red_Wire]

He's pretty big in soundtracks these days. Made me shiver the first time I listened to it. Damn Cohen!

I watched a documentary on him last month I think. Did you know he wrote like... 100 stanzas/verses to Hallelujah before he picked the ones he did? No wonder there's so many covers...

[Flutterings]

Concrete Blondes did a cover of this which I got addicted to!

[Yog]

Didn't know he was doing a lot of soundtracks, but I can see it. Probably one of the biggest names I know of in soundtracks is Danny Elfman formerly of Oingo Boingo. He was huge in the 90s.

I think both artists have probably had a bigger influence on the music scene than their popularity would seem to indicate.

Thanks for the info. Fun stuff.

[Red_Wire]

Danny Elfman did the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack! Yay.

Did he also do something like the Simpsons theme? I should be googling this...

[Yog]

Sleepy Hollow
Mission Impossible
Beetlejuice
Batman
Spiderman
A Simple Plan
Red Dragon
Men in Black II
Men in Black
A Civil Action
Big Fish
etc ... etc ... etc ...

I heard him in an interview once say that he never goes to a premier of a movie that he does a soundtrack for. He watches scenes so many times to write a score that he can't stand to see it again in the theatre. LoL He's done tons of movie soundtracks!

[joethfc]

I love Cohen's work too - going to see him in Nov

---------------

Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And Im crazy for love but Im not coming on
Im just paying my rent every day
Oh in the tower of song

I said to hank williams: how lonely does it get?
Hank williams hasnt answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
A hundred floors above me
In the tower of song

I was born like this, I had no choice
I was born with the gift of a golden voice
And twenty-seven angels from the great beyond
They tied me to this table right here
In the tower of song

So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll
Im very sorry, baby, doesnt look like me at all
Im standing by the window where the light is strong
Ah they dont let a woman kill you
Not in the tower of song

Now you can say that Ive grown bitter but of this you may be sure
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor
And theres a mighty judgement coming, but I may be wrong
You see, you hear these funny voices
In the tower of song

I see you standing on the other side
I dont know how the river got so wide
I loved you baby, way back when
And all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed
But I feel so close to everything that we lost
Well never have to lose it again

Now I bid you farewell, I dont know when Ill be back
There moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track
But youll be hearing from me baby, long after Im gone
Ill be speaking to you sweetly
From a window in the tower of song
Yeah my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And Im crazy for love but Im not coming on
Im just paying my rent every day
Oh in the tower of song

[Yog]

I've always loved that second stanza. Makes me smile every time I hear it. It's funny and sad all at the same time.

[joethfc]

yep and i always think that he'll be moving up to that hank williams suite one day

"Ah they dont let a woman kill you
Not in the tower of song"

this is my favorite line - i personally see it as meaning that writing break up songs etc makes you worse with women so you stay alone

[Yog]

Interesting, I rather took it as the music will keep you going even after the harshest of breakups. The music keeps you alive even when you only want to die. It's always fun to see different interpretations upon the same set of lines.

[joethfc]

Interesting, I rather took it as the music will keep you going even after the harshest of breakups. The music keeps you alive even when you only want to die. It's always fun to see different interpretations upon the same set of lines.


i guess it depends on your outlook

[Yog]

Absolutely, we all come to a piece of writing with different life experiences and different mental and genetic compositions. I find it very rare to see two people with exactly the same interpretation on a given piece of art. In the world of critical essays it's even mandatory that a writer have a new and previously unexpressed take on a piece to even get published. The interpretation is half the fun to me. :D

[joethfc]

Absolutely, we all come to a piece of writing with different life experiences and different mental and genetic compositions. I find it very rare to see two people with exactly the same interpretation on a given piece of art. In the world of critical essays it's even mandatory that a writer have a new and previously unexpressed take on a piece to even get published. The interpretation is half the fun to me. :D

for sure - imo the creation is 50% of art and interpretation is the other 50%

[Yog]

for sure - imo the creation is 50% of art and interpretation is the other 50%

Definitely, I'll agree with that. yup, yup.

[joethfc]

beauty is art and art is beauty
that will look good in quotation marks ;)

[k2hsharpe]

*
If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will

*

[joethfc]

Baby, I've been waiting,
I've been waiting night and day.
I didn't see the time,
I waited half my life away.
There were lots of invitations
and I know you sent me some,
but I was waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.
I know you really loved me.
but, you see, my hands were tied.
I know it must have hurt you,
it must have hurt your pride
to have to stand beneath my window
with your bugle and your drum,
and me I'm up there waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

Ah I don't believe you'd like it,
You wouldn't like it here.
There ain't no entertainment
and the judgements are severe.
The Maestro says it's Mozart
but it sounds like bubble gum
when you're waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

Waiting for the miracle
There's nothing left to do.
I haven't been this happy
since the end of World War II.

Nothing left to do
when you know that you've been taken.
Nothing left to do
when you're begging for a crumb
Nothing left to do
when you've got to go on waiting
waiting for the miracle to come.

I dreamed about you, baby.
It was just the other night.
Most of you was naked
Ah but some of you was light.
The sands of time were falling
from your fingers and your thumb,
and you were waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come

Ah baby, let's get married,
we've been alone too long.
Let's be alone together.
Let's see if we're that strong.
Yeah let's do something crazy,
something absolutely wrong
while we're waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

Nothing left to do ...

When you've fallen on the highway
and you're lying in the rain,
and they ask you how you're doing
of course you'll say you can't complain --
If you're squeezed for information,
that's when you've got to play it dumb:
You just say you're out there waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

[joethfc]

He's pretty big in soundtracks these days. Made me shiver the first time I listened to it. Damn Cohen!

I watched a documentary on him last month I think. Did you know he wrote like... 100 stanzas/verses to Hallelujah before he picked the ones he did? No wonder there's so many covers...

are these verses somewhere on the net?
id love to find them