They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
I'm guided by a signal in the heavens (guided, guided)
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin (guided, guided by)
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons (guided)
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
(I'd really like to live beside you, baby)
(I love your body and your spirit and your clothes)
(But you see that line there moving through the station?)
(I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those)
Ah, you loved me as a loser
But now you're worried that I just might win
You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline
How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
I don't like your fashion business, mister
And I don't like these drugs that keep you thin
I don't like what happened to my sister
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
(I'd really like to live beside you, baby)
(I love your body and your spirit and your clothes)
(But you see that line there moving through the station?)
(I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those)
And I thank you for those items that you sent me, ha ha ha
The monkey and the plywood violin
I practiced every night, now I'm ready
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin (I am guided)
Ah remember me, I used to live for music (baby)
Remember me, I brought your groceries in (ooh, baby, yeah)
Well, it's Father's Day and everybody's wounded (baby)
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
I'm guided by a signal in the heavens (guided, guided)
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin (guided, guided by)
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons (guided)
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
(I'd really like to live beside you, baby)
(I love your body and your spirit and your clothes)
(But you see that line there moving through the station?)
(I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those)
Ah, you loved me as a loser
But now you're worried that I just might win
You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline
How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
I don't like your fashion business, mister
And I don't like these drugs that keep you thin
I don't like what happened to my sister
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
(I'd really like to live beside you, baby)
(I love your body and your spirit and your clothes)
(But you see that line there moving through the station?)
(I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those)
And I thank you for those items that you sent me, ha ha ha
The monkey and the plywood violin
I practiced every night, now I'm ready
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin (I am guided)
Ah remember me, I used to live for music (baby)
Remember me, I brought your groceries in (ooh, baby, yeah)
Well, it's Father's Day and everybody's wounded (baby)
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
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To me this is a song about a guy who's realized he can't run from his destiny, and his true calling is music and poetry:
"They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within"
Singer/songwriter ignored by the know-it-alls. Could even be he's talking about Bob Dylan or probably himself.
"I'm coming now I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin"
He's back, he's better, and he's ready now (which he also states later on in the song).
"I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin"
It's his destiny. He was born into this world to change it through his art.
"I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin"
Music is his weapon. Today his country, tomorrow the world!
"I'd really like to live beside you, baby
I love your body and your spirit and your clothes
But you see that line there moving through the station?
I told you I told you I told you I was one of those"
He'd like to settle down, but life on the road is his way. He doesn't have the mind of a settler, husband, whatever.
"You loved me as a loser
But now you're worried that I just might win
You know the way to stop me
But you don't have the discipline"
He's starting to get recognized. She knows that this means he'll be on the road even more often, and it's easy to stop him by giving him an ultimatum, but she feels it's not right.
"How many nights I prayed for this: to let my work begin
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin"
He's practiced, he knows what people want, he knows what he wants, and so it all begins. Finally the masses will hear his message.
"I don't like your fashion business, mister
And I don't like these drugs that keep you thin
I don't like what happened to your system
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin"
He doesn't care much for the pop industry where image is everything.
"And thank you for those items that you sent me
The monkey and the plywood violin"
From "mere" poetry to song lyrics/music. He has certainly developed a lot.
"I practiced every night and now I'm ready
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin"
As said before, he's ready to spread the word.
"Remember me, I used to live for music
Remember me, I brought your groceries in"
He tried to be a regular man in the street, but it's not his way. He used to live in his own little musical world, and now he's come out into the real one.
"It's Father's Day and everybody's wounded
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin"
He'd like to stay at home, but it's really not his way. He has to follow his calling.
Well, there you have it - my interpretation of this excellent song. I apologize if my thoughts are hard to follow sometimes, but after all I am Norwegian. ;)
For me the key was thinking about those two targets: Manhattan and Berlin. Why those two? It makes the most sense, if they can somehow be seen as iconic twins. In which way could they be seen as twins? It is rather obvious: They were the two foremost centres of radical artistic innovation back in the 1980s. So for the artist, they were twin citadels to conquer. They do not really pair well in any other sense. If the idea was to attack political power centres, it would be Washington, rather than Manhattan. And it would certainly not be Berlin back in the 1980s. If the idea was anti-capitalist, Manhattan would make sense, but the pairing would be with London, not Berlin. If it was something about Holocaust, as some suggest, Berlin would make sense, but Manhattan would seem an odd target.
So for me, these lyrics are about the artists drive for conquest inside the world of human creativity. Re-reading the lyrics from this perspective immediately allowed several dots to join. The detailed interpretation by crazypoet filled in the rest of the picture for me.
What then about Cohen's own statement that this is about "terrorism"? Well, see whom he mentions as his preeminent terrorists: Jesus, Marx, Einstein. This is about the terror of radical creativity, not bombs. Cohen would be right in the sense that e.g. Einstein's dissolution of space and time stroke terror much more deeply in human minds, than any number of misguided bomb-men can do. The same could be said for shocks arising from 20th century innovations in art and music, which again and again made large numbers of people feel deeply disturbed.
From Denmark 10 points go to Norway ...
I'd really like to live beside you, baby
I love your body and your spirit and your clothes
But you see that line there moving through the station?
I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those....
This is a sad truth about Leonard Cohen's life. In at least one of Joni Mitchell's songs, she refers to him as "the priest." Cohen has foregone many of the pleasures in life to remain dedicated to his music, and to the tremendous proliferation of his body of work. But he seems to be weighed down by his monk-like existence (literally, for five years he went into seclusion in a monastery near Los Angeles, adopting the name "Jikan," which means "silence,"). The reduction of his entire life to being someone standing in line at a train station emphasizes his very somber and contemplative observation of the world around him. He is a lonely sentry, bearing witness to the machinations of those with social power today.
The "twenty years of boredom" probably refers to his many years of being a troubadour, a less strident voice. But Leonard is nothing if not serious as a heart attack. His true calling is as an iconoclast, rather than as a conformist.
I see parallels in my own life. I spent more than twenty years being bored to tears in the office world, but still, I learned a great deal about people and social politics, which informs my writing now. I even had a dream once where I was deemed a silent angel, and this dream has always haunted me, because I see so much more than I speak of. So, of course, I relate to this song on a very personal level.
9/11 were not the first terrorist attacks to happen. The original music video from 1987 (youtube.com/…) begins with a radio announcer’s voice saying "Was die Attentäter betrifft, die in Berlin den Anschlag auf die deutsch-arabische Gesellschaft verübt haben, ist die Polizei einen Schritt weiter gekommen."
b-ray has already translated this statement. The attack mentioned happened on March 29, 1986, one year before the song was released.
Leonard Cohen himself is quoted (pagesperso-orange.fr/pilgraeme/…):
“I’m not sure of what it means right now because I had this long voyage from Chicago. I think it means exactly what it says. It is a terrorist song.”
and
“Ever succeeding moment changes what has happened the moment before. In the stream of writing, all that is written changes its meanings by what is written subsequently. "First We Take Manhattan" might be understood as an examination of the mind of the extremist. In a way it’s a better song now (*) than it was before and I would probably sing it in concert if the circumstances were appropriate.”
(*) The Chat took place one month after the terrorist attacks in NYC and Washington D.C.
This website might be the one that losttango was talking about.
So I guess it is a song about terrorism; however, songs like “First We Take Manhattan” or “The Future” don’t make him a Nostradamus-like prophet. It just shows his ability to envisage what society could look like in the future, in the same way George Orwell did, or H.G. Wells and Jules Verne did concerning technology.
leonardcohenfiles.com/
Here, the relevant verse reads as follows:
I don't like your fashion business mister
And I don't like these drugs that keep you thin
I don't like what happened to my sister
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
Above, losttango refers to a website that has gathered together Mr Cohen's comments on his own songs. I don't know if Leonard Cohen Files is that website, but I'll have a look and get back to you all.
I do think it's about Cohen going on tour as well. These songs will rarely be pinned down to a single interpretation. The monkey and the plywood violin I take to be a self-deprecating reference to his body and his musical talent.
Incidentally, the lyric above is incorrect - the line should read "my sister" not "your".
leonardcohenfiles.com/
This is the website you are referring to.
It's a slap at the art/fashion/music scene of the late 80s. Manhattan and Berlin being the "hipsters' paradises" that exemplified the empty, fashionista, Warholesque, Studio 54 scenes that Cohen is antithetical to. This is Cohen's FU to Dieter from SNL -- he's coming back with actual substance and fashion is going to get its butt kicked. THe way to "stop him" is to go beyond shallow trendy pop...but they didn't and still don't have the discipline.