| Leonard Cohen – Who by Fire Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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More specifically, in that last line "who is calling", Cohen tells us finally what is the scene where this questions are being asked. Of course the background is the Netane Tokef Prayer of the Jewish Yom Kipur. The final line regards the different verdicts as messages directed to any one of us, delivered in this dreadful day. And so when Cohen picks up this allegoric phone and receives the message for someone, a relative maybe, he does not just lamely says "got it". Instead he courageously, if somewhat humbly, without expecting any response, asks "an who shall I say is calling?" P.S. It is Hebrew New-Year eve today, ten days before Yom Kipur Taf-Shin-Samech-Alef (2010). Hag Sameach! |
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| Leonard Cohen – Who by Fire Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I wonder about the refrain, "and who shall I say is calling?". After the "who by ..." that opens every line, this "who" suddenly is a different one. A completely different "who". It is sarcastic change of the repetin "who". There is a a very polite question here, "who shall I say", with all due respect and humility, who is *calling* here. Who is the one that is behind all this, that calls us, whether we die from fire or from barbiturate. Cohen does not state this as a pure philosophical issue. It comes from a deep pain of the human state where one faces its unchallengeable end. Cohen, as I see it, does not accept the simplistic view of the faithful. He wants an answer that is acceptable and sensible for a modern person of our times. Even if he knows no answer would ever come, it is still his privilege, ours, to ask. | |
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