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, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing (won't be nothing)
Nothing you can measure anymore
The blizzard, the blizzard of the world
Has crossed the threshold
And it's overturned
The order of the soul

When they said (they said) repent (repent), repent (repent)
I wonder what they meant
When they said (they said) repent (repent), repent (repent)
I wonder what they meant
When they said (they said) repent (repent), repent (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 (do, do, do)
And now the wheels of heaven stop
You feel the devil's riding crop
Get ready for the future
It is murder (do, do, do)

Things are going to slide
Slide in all directions
Won't be nothing (won't be)
Nothing you can measure anymore
The blizzard, the blizzard of the world
Has crossed the threshold
And it's overturned
The order of the soul

When they said (they said) repent (repent), repent (repent)
I wonder what they meant
When they said (they said) repent (repent), repent (repent)
I wonder what they meant
When they said (they said) repent (repent), repent (repent)
I wonder what they meant

There'll be the breaking of the ancient
Western code
Your private life will suddenly explode (ooh, ooh)
There'll be phantoms
There'll be fires on the road
And the white man dancing

You'll see a woman
Hanging upside down (ooh, ooh)
Her features covered by her fallen gown (ooh, ooh)
And all the lousy little poets
Coming round
Tryin' to sound like Charlie Manson
Yeah, the white man dancin'

Give me back the Berlin wall
Give me Stalin and St. Paul
Give me Christ or give me Hiroshima (do, do, do)
Destroy another fetus now
We don't like children anyhow
I've seen the future, baby
It is murder (do, do, do)

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing (won't be)
Nothing you can measure anymore
The blizzard, the blizzard of the world
Has crossed the threshold
And it's overturned
The order of the soul

When they said (they said) repent (repent), repent (repent)
I wonder what they meant
When they said (they said) repent (repent), repent (repent)
I wonder what they meant
When they said (they said) repent (repent), repent (repent)
I wonder what they meant

When they said (they said) repent (repent), repent (repent)


Lyrics submitted by neptune235, edited by BR0ck94, moinaldo

The Future Lyrics as written by Leonard Cohen

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Sentric Music

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

The Future song meanings
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    General Comment

    I'm someone who thinks murder is the future in a GOOD way, a Manson supporter. But after seriously looking over the lyrics of the song I think it's strictly satirical. I think the first verse implies that he's being facetious. He's ordering people to give him complete control. Saying "Give me back Stalin" who murdered so many people, I think he's mocking the idea that people revere murders and calling them short sighted for thinking that the world would be better through those ideologies. It could be a direct criticism of Charlie Manson and those movements who think the world is about to end and everybody has to change their mind or they won't be able to weather the storm. I think the chorus of "When they said repent..." is the non-satirical response to Manson & ilk --> 'how could they say we're the ones going wrong when they want Hiroshima to be their fate?' But of course I prefer the non-facetious interpretation and the more I think about it I don't think it has to necessarily be satirical anymore.

    TheFutureIsMurderon July 16, 2007   Link

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