The Captain

This is, in my opinion, a cold-blooded killer’s confession to his last disciple. The captain has led his team through the war not with the goal of reaching a peaceful conclusion, but of wreaking havoc… and now he has nothing left. Everyone has left him, besides one naïve soldier. The captain thinks he can convince the soldier that the two of them are equally bad, but they are not. “The captain, he was dying, but the captain wasn’t hurt.” In other words, he has never once suffered during the war, because of his utter lack of compassion. Killing others leaves no emotional impact on him, and because of his rank, he hasn’t had to make any physical action to bring about those killings anyways. The soldier takes the insignia in acknowledgement that the captain held no true care for material things. He will try his best to follow that direction, only this time, altruistically. He now has nothing left to lose except for himself. The insignia stands for evil, yes, but it’s just a material thing. He’s not becoming the captain of anyone but himself, in both a literal and spiritual sense. He’s realizing and accepting his mistakes; what he was once a part of— because he knows that he is nothing like the man who led it.

This song has weighed on me in the last few days with me trying to find its meaning - or rather a meaning. I came across Yawarundi75's https://www.reddit.com/r/MensLib/comments/znikdm/i_think_leonard_cohens_the_captain_is_the_most/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button, and that rung fairly true to me. Here's my 2 cents, for whatever it's worth.

The captain symbolises the less desirable aspects of manhood, in particular aggression and a tendency for violence. War, after all, is mainly waged by men. The other person in the song, let's call him the soldier, is Cohen himself. I believe he was about 50 at the time which, given my own age, seems like a good time to investigate what being a man means, in particular with reference to these less desirable aspects. Cohen thinks and hopes that these aspects may be dying, with age being the mellowing moderator. But are they?

[Verse 1] Now the Captain called me to his bed, he fumbled for my hand / "Take these silver bars," he said, "I'm giving you command." / "Command of what? There's no one here, there's only you and me / All the rest are dead or in retreat or with the enemy."

"I'm giving you command" of the first verse is an invitation to fully own "being a man" in all its facets, or perhaps an invitation to try and get rid of these facets so as to be a better man. Since the two persons in the song are really one and the same, the soldier replies jokingly "Command of what? There's no-one here, there's only you and me".

[Verse 2] "Complain, complain, that's all you've done ever since we lost / If it's not the Crucifixion, then it's the Holocaust." / "May Christ have mercy on your soul for making such a joke / Amid these hearts that burn like coal and the flesh that rose like smoke."

The second verse detracts a bit from the main theme but touches on it too. On the one hand, it is a simple response to the soldier's "joke" but, at the same time, makes clear references to the main theme of the song (male violence) and what it can and has led to: the deathcamps of WW II.

[Verse 3] "I know that you have suffered, lad, but suffer this awhile / Whatever makes a soldier sad will make a killer smile." / "I'm leaving, Captain, I've got to go, there's blood upon your hand / But tell me, Captain, if you know of a decent place to stand."

In the third verse, the captain recognises the complexity of being a man (not that it's more complex than being a woman, mind you - but that's not what the song is about) and the self-doubt, struggle, and resulting suffering: "I know that you have suffered, lad". But the captain also recognises that all of us carry both a soldier and a killer inside. So "suffer this awhile": you may not like to admit it, but parts of you are prone to violence. So "Whatever makes a soldier sad will make a killer smile" makes sense: the captain tells the soldier that, even if not "for a righteous cause" there are still parts of you that revel in violence. Besides, "righteous" is (almost?) never objective. The soldier doesn't want to admit this. He doesn't want to admit that he, too, has the tendencies embodied by the captain. He doesn't want the "blood on his hands". He wants/needs to leave that behind, have nothing to do with it. That however also leaves him clueless on what he should do. "Where to stand?".

[Verse 4]"There is no decent place to stand in a massacre / But if a woman take your hand, then go and stand with her." / "I left a wife in Tennessee and my baby in Saigon -- / I risked my life, but not to hear some country-western song."

The captain offers his view in the fourth verse: he doesn't have an answer. In the real world massacres are going on all the time, and there is no "decent place to stand". There is no objectively righteous position to take. The best advice the captain can offer is that completely fulfilling your "manhood" may be possible by a deeply meaningful union with a woman: "If a woman take your hand, go and stand with her". The soldier replies that he tried that, and it didn't work. He had a wife. He even had a baby. He tried being fulfilled by putting his life in service of them, but it didn't work. It didn't address all the facets of "being a man". So he rejects that advice as rather cheap: "some country-western song".

[Verse 5] "Ah, but if you cannot raise your love to a very high degree / Then you're just the man I've been thinking of, so come and stand with me." / "Your standing days are done," I cried, "you'll rally me no more / I don't even know what side we fought on, or what for."

The fifth verse is rather cynical. The captain interprets the soldier's failure as that the soldier might like to be different from the captain, but really isn't. Manhood does include those less desirable facets and maybe even defines it: "If you cannot raise your love to a very high degree" (so high that "being a man" can be completely defined by simply loving a woman and having a family), then the soldier is really the same as the captain: "Come and stand with me". The soldier refuses to believe that ("You'll rally me no more") but is now also left in a totally confused state: "I don't even know what side we fought on, or what for."

[Verse 6] "I'm on the side that's always lost against the side of Heaven / I'm on the side of snake-eyes tossed against the side of seven / And I've read the Bill of Human Rights and some of it was true / But there wasn't any burden left, so I'm laying it on you."

In verse six, the captain admits that his tendency for violence will never win the day: in the long run he'll always be on the losing side. Indeed, even he recognises the value of human life and human rights - at least, some of them. The captain is content with this, though - he isn't bothered by these struggles anymore. He knows he's violent, but it's ok: he's left that struggle to the soldier to fight: "I'm laying it on you".

[Outro] Now the Captain he was dying, but the Captain wasn't hurt / The silver bars were in my hand, I pinned them to my shirt

In the last verse, Cohen recognises there's no escaping the captain. Even though he hoped and wished the captain was dying, he's realising he must and has taken up the bars himself: the captain and the soldier are really one.

This interpretation of the song is somewhat defeatist, I guess. That said, I'm personally convinced that admitting that you embody violent tendencies is the best (the only?) way to curb them.

Surprising nobody's commented. The next to last stanza about snake-eyes if one the coolest set of lyrics you will ever hear. This may be Cohen's most country sounding song. It's on Various Positions, which also contains his popular Hallelujah. Good album, but very slick production.

I think the country sound is supposed to be ironic in a way "I gave my life but no to hear some country western song".

I think the line: "There is no decent place to stand In a massacre; But if a woman take your hand Go and stand with her." is classic Cohen, a brilliant image.