Challenges and activities |
Day 8 Leonard Cohen with Everybody Knows, live in London in 2019 and featured on the album I'm Your Man, 1988. What does this song mean according to The American Songwriter? "Cohen doesn’t waste any time with tact or restraint, setting the tone in his opening lines: “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.” This generalized overview soon gives way to more specific concerns, as the relentless lyrics touch on greed, racism and drugs. One verse seems to specifically reference the AIDS crisis, then at its height, as Cohen sings of a coming plague, meters to count sexual partners, and how “the naked man and woman/Are just a shining artifact of the past.” Yet he also brings things down to a personal level with a verse about infidelity between two lovers. “Everybody knows that you’ve been faithful/Ah, give or take a night or two,” he sings. And it wouldn’t be a Cohen song if he didn’t bring spiritual concerns into it, with references to Calvary (juxtaposed ironically with Malibu beaches) and the Sacred Heart. Whether that heart belongs to Jesus or Leonard is never revealed, but, at the song’s end, it’s poised to explode all over the whole sordid scene. Cohen also makes room for flashes of mischievous wit, like when he implies that the death of a parent and the death of a dog are equally disturbing. Running through this litany of horrors is a subtle criticism of those who ignore it all in favor of their own self-interested pursuits: “Everybody’s talking to their pockets/Everybody wants a box of chocolates/And a long-stemmed rose.”" A beautiful but critical protest song! Lyrics Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows 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 it's 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 Everybody knows, everybody knows That's how it goes Everybody knows Everybody knows, everybody knows That's how it goes Everybody knows Everybody knows |