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| Songwriter Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) |
Leonard Cohen has won his nation's highest award in both prose and verse. Indeed, he authored two well-received novels, "The Favorite Game" (1963) and "Beautiful Losers" (1966), and three bestselling poetry--assuming that wasn't an oxymoron in the 1960s, as it is now--collections before his music career began in 1967: "Let Us Compare Mythologies" (1956), "The Spice-Box of Earth" (1961) and "Flowers for Hitler" (1964). When Buffy Ste. Marie read an excerpt from "Beautiful Losers" she immediately adopted/adapted the passage as lyrics to "God is Alive, Magic is Afoot", which became a minor hit for both artists. That the same words could be prose, verse and song gave the world a new definition of poetry, just as Buffy's rendition redefined prayer:
Lyrics:
God is alive; Magic is afoot
God is alive; Magic is afoot
God is afoot; Magic is alive
Alive is afoot.....
Magic never died.
God never sickened;
Many poor men lied
Many sick men lied
Magic never weakened
Magic never hid
Magic always ruled
God is afoot
God never died.
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| Songwriter Buffy Sainte Marie |
God was ruler
Though his funeral lengthened
Though his mourners thickened
Magic never fled
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live
Though his words were twisted
The naked Magic thrived
Though his death was published
Round and round the world
The heart did not believe
Many hurt men wondered
Many struck men bled
Magic never faltered
Magic always led.
Many stones were rolled
But God would not lie down
Many wild men lied
Many fat men listened
Though they offered stones
Magic still was fed
Though they locked their coffers
God was always served.
Magic is afoot. God rules.
Alive is afoot. Alive is in command.
Many weak men hungered
Many strong men thrived
Though they boasted solitude
God was at their side
Nor the dreamer in his cell
Nor the captain on the hill
Magic is alive
Though his death was pardoned
Round and round the world
The heart did not believe.
Though laws were carved in marble
They could not shelter men
Though altars built in parliaments
They could not order men
Police arrested Magic
And Magic went with them,
For Magic loves the hungry.
But Magic would not tarry
It moves from arm to arm
It would not stay with them
Magic is afoot
It cannot come to harm
It rests in an empty palm
It spawns in an empty mind
But Magic is no instrument
Magic is the end.
Many men drove Magic
But Magic stayed behind
Many strong men lied
They only passed through Magic
And out the other side
Many weak men lied
They came to God in secret
And though they left him nourished
They would not say who healed
Though mountains danced before them
They said that God was dead
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live
This I mean to whisper to my mind
This I mean to laugh with in my mind
This I mean my mind to serve 'til
Service is but Magic
Moving through the world
And mind itself is Magic
Coursing through the flesh
And flesh itself is Magic
Dancing on a clock
And time itself the magic length of God
It is easy to imagine that, in the next four years, "Democracy is Coming to the U.S.A." could become an anthem. In any event, Leonard Cohen will be remembered as the Shakespeare of our time.
Lyrics:
"It's coming through a hole in the air,
From those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
That this ain't exactly real,
Or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
From the sirens night and day,
From the fires of the homeless,
From the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall
On a visionary flood of alcohol
From the staggering account
Of the Sermon on the Mount
Which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
On the dock of the bay,
From the brave, the bold, the battered
Heart of Chevrolet
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
The holy places where the races meet
From the homicidal bitchin'
That goes down in every kitchen
To determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
Where the women kneel to pray
For the grace of God in the desert here
And the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.
It's coming to America first,
The cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
And the machinery for change
And it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
And it's here the lonely say
That the heart has got to open
In a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
The river's going to weep,
And the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
Beneath the lunar sway,
Imperial, mysterious,
In amorous array
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on
I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
Getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
That Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
This little wild bouquet
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A."
"The trouble with democracy is what the word actually means - normal people think it's from the Greek, 'demos kratos', meaning the voice of the people, a system where people's opinions count for something, but the freaks in power think it's from 'demos krateos' - the people are cretins - and treat everyone accordingly." - Garry AndrewsLinks:
Day 1 (The Inauguration) - "Hands" - Jewel
Day 2 (The Million Woman March) - "Testimony" by Ferron, sung by Marcelle Davies Lashley
Day 3 - "Ruins" - by Cat Stevens
Day 4 - "Eve of Destruction" (1964) - by P. F. Sloan performed by Barry McGuire
Day 5 - "Hypersensive Jester" - by Denny Guy
Day 6 - "Teresa" - by John Stewart
Day 7 - "Black Boys on Mopeds" by Sinéad O'Connor
Day 8 - "Burn, Baby, Burn" - by Bruce Cockburn
Day 9 - "Black Day in July" - by Gordon Lightfoot
Day 10 - "Democracy is Coming" - Leonard Cohen
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