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Everybody Knows -- Leonard Cohen

Guest poem sent in by Matt Chanoff :

Here's another song lyric that I love and think people will enjoy.  Last
year, a group of people did a show of Leonard Cohen songs, which they
performed in New York and Sydney. It's the basis for a documentary about
Cohen that's in theaters now, called 'Came So Far for Beauty'.  I've been
listening to the soundtrack, which is phenomenal, and particularly love the
following song, performed on the album by Rufus Wainwright.
(Poem #1918) Everybody Knows
 Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
 Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
 Everybody knows that the war is over
 Everybody knows the good guys lost
 Everybody knows the fight was fixed
 The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
 That's how it goes
 Everybody knows

 Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
 Everybody knows that the captain lied
 Everybody got this broken feeling
 Like their father or their dog just died

 Everybody talking to their pockets
 Everybody wants a box of chocolates
 And a long stem rose
 Everybody knows

 Everybody knows that you love me baby
 Everybody knows that you really do
 Everybody knows that you've been faithful
 Ah give or take a night or two
 Everybody knows you've been discreet
 But there were so many people you just had to meet
 Without your clothes
 And everybody knows

 Everybody knows, everybody knows
 That's how it goes
 Everybody knows

 Everybody knows, everybody knows
 That's how it goes
 Everybody knows

 And everybody knows that it's now or never
 Everybody knows that it's me or you
 And everybody knows that you live forever
 Ah when you've done a line or two
 Everybody knows the deal is rotten
 Old black Joe's still pickin cotton
 For your ribbons and bows
 And everybody knows

 And everybody knows that the plague is coming
 Everybody knows that it's moving fast
 Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
 Are just a shining artifact of the past
 Everybody knows the scene is dead
 But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
 That will disclose
 What everybody knows

 And everybody knows that you're in trouble
 Everybody knows what you've been through
 From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
 To the beach of Malibu
 Everybody knows its coming apart
 Take one last look at this sacred heart
 Before it blows
 And everybody knows

 Everybody knows, everybody knows
 That's how it goes
 Everybody knows

 Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
 That's how it goes
 Everybody knows

 Everybody knows
-- Leonard Cohen
Here's what I love about this song. The first three stanzas let up this
barbed, vicious view of human nature. The world is sick, they say, because
people are crooked.  Then with the next stanza the focus of all that
hostility shifts from the world at large to an unfaithful lover.  You
automatically reinterpret the stuff in the third stanza about 'everybody
wants a box of chocolates, a long stemmed rose' from belonging to the first
sentiment to belonging to the second.

More gradually, the meaning of the refrain, 'everybody knows' shifts too,
from 'everybody knows the sad truth of the world' to 'everybody knows that
you've been unfaithful to me.'

This terrific conflation of the individual, personal hurt and the grand
sense that the world is sinful works in a macro way - as a betrayed lover,
you do feel that you've been betrayed by the whole world.  Cohen emphasizes
the theme by conflating big and small things throughout the song.  For
example 'Everybody got this broken feeling/ Like their father or their dog
just died'. One would think that these would be different orders of grief,
but not in this song. Another example is 'Everybody knows what you've been
through/ From the bloody cross on top of Calvary/ To the beach of Malibu'.

The other thing I love about the song is just simply the great lines.  For
example, the run up to the instance of 'everybody knows' where you suddenly
realize it means 'everybody knows you've been unfaithful' goes like this

    Everybody knows you've been discreet
    But there were so many people you just had to meet
    Without your clothes
    And everybody knows

I also love

    Everybody knows the deal is rotten
    Old black Joe's still pickin cotton
    For your ribbons and bows

Leonard Cohen's got this deep unvarying monotone of a voice, that has turned
me off to his music for years.  This album of good (and some great) singers
has given me an appreciation for what a great lyricist he is.

Matt Chanoff

41 comments: ( or Leave a comment )

Andrew Sydlik said...

This has to be my favorite Cohen lyric. I agree that the conflation of
personal and existential pain is brilliant, subtle in a way even
though it is also plain and matter-of-fact; it's not melodramatic. I
can't think of a better song that handles existential angst in a more
complete, down-to-earth no-frills way. Cohen's voice isn't the most
beautiful and the lack of dynamism can be off-putting, but it does
have a hypnotic, atmospheric quality if I'm in the right mood. By the
way, I saw the documentary, which is called "I'm Your Man" not "Came
So Far For Beauty."

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