Just as a musician...great powerful song from Leonard Cohen and sung by Judy Collins first time I heard it. It uses the 3# interval, also called the augmented fourth, throughout, which was called 'the devil's chord' and forbidden to be used by the catholic church, as you can hear for obvious reasons.
It's probably the darkest of Cohen's songs, and he is a master of depth. I wish we had such masters of music now, it's pretty much all trash these days unfortunately....
The 'rag' part I think has many levels of meaning. To tease or taunt, to play a joke on, also, a scrap or a fragment, or a newspaper or other journal esp one considered as worthless or sensational. I think it is primarily the first one, that he is taunted by thoughts of suicide, but also like Neptune235 says, it is his life that is the dress rehearsal rag, a worthless sensational fragment as indicated by the line, "I thought you were the king of ivory town?"
The 'rag' part I think has many levels of meaning. To tease or taunt, to play a joke on, also, a scrap or a fragment, or a newspaper or other journal esp one considered as worthless or sensational. I think it is primarily the first one, that he is taunted by thoughts of suicide, but also like Neptune235 says, it is his life that is the dress rehearsal rag, a worthless sensational fragment as indicated by the line, "I thought you were the king of ivory town?"
What does he mean when he says "you can find your...
What does he mean when he says "you can find your love with diagrams
on a plain brown envelope."?
In the times there were as mentioned in the song advertisement on the back of magazines, that promoted various religious groups, the Rosicrucians being on of them, obviously promoting solutions, love, happiness etc which they would send you in unmarked envelopes to not risk exposure once you'd sent them the coupon with your name and presumably bank account details to join.
In the times there were as mentioned in the song advertisement on the back of magazines, that promoted various religious groups, the Rosicrucians being on of them, obviously promoting solutions, love, happiness etc which they would send you in unmarked envelopes to not risk exposure once you'd sent them the coupon with your name and presumably bank account details to join.
Just as a musician...great powerful song from Leonard Cohen and sung by Judy Collins first time I heard it. It uses the 3# interval, also called the augmented fourth, throughout, which was called 'the devil's chord' and forbidden to be used by the catholic church, as you can hear for obvious reasons.
It's probably the darkest of Cohen's songs, and he is a master of depth. I wish we had such masters of music now, it's pretty much all trash these days unfortunately....
The 'rag' part I think has many levels of meaning. To tease or taunt, to play a joke on, also, a scrap or a fragment, or a newspaper or other journal esp one considered as worthless or sensational. I think it is primarily the first one, that he is taunted by thoughts of suicide, but also like Neptune235 says, it is his life that is the dress rehearsal rag, a worthless sensational fragment as indicated by the line, "I thought you were the king of ivory town?"
The 'rag' part I think has many levels of meaning. To tease or taunt, to play a joke on, also, a scrap or a fragment, or a newspaper or other journal esp one considered as worthless or sensational. I think it is primarily the first one, that he is taunted by thoughts of suicide, but also like Neptune235 says, it is his life that is the dress rehearsal rag, a worthless sensational fragment as indicated by the line, "I thought you were the king of ivory town?"
What does he mean when he says "you can find your...
What does he mean when he says "you can find your love with diagrams on a plain brown envelope."?
In the times there were as mentioned in the song advertisement on the back of magazines, that promoted various religious groups, the Rosicrucians being on of them, obviously promoting solutions, love, happiness etc which they would send you in unmarked envelopes to not risk exposure once you'd sent them the coupon with your name and presumably bank account details to join.
In the times there were as mentioned in the song advertisement on the back of magazines, that promoted various religious groups, the Rosicrucians being on of them, obviously promoting solutions, love, happiness etc which they would send you in unmarked envelopes to not risk exposure once you'd sent them the coupon with your name and presumably bank account details to join.