You might think that a deft hipster such as myself would have discovered an artist who is cooler than cool years in advance of the oh so many music aficionado posers...but sadly, no. My introduction to him and this week's tune was via the 1990 movie Pump Up the Volume (a nice coming of age film)--but, as the saying goes, better late than never.
Leonard Cohen was the very definition of a Renaissance man, having released five books of poetry and two novels before he began his musical journey at the relatively late age of thirty-three (he would release twelve more books of poetry). A native of Montreal, throughout the course of his forty-nine year career Cohen won several Juno Awards, a Grammy, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Canadian Hall of Fame, and the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in both Canada and America. Bob Dylan said Cohen was the second best songwriter ever, and Cohen enjoyed a tremendous amount of success in the U.K. and throughout Europe. For his musical career, Cohen released 15 studio albums and had two of them chart in the top ten. He also released 44 singles, of which, oddly enough, only one ever charted. Sadly, Cohen passed away in 2016 at the age of eighty-two, but he left behind a vast legacy that will be with us for generations to come.
Fun Fact: In 1994 Cohen entered a Zen monastery near Los Angeles, where he stayed in seclusion for five years. He was also ordained as a Buddhist monk during this time, though at no time did Cohen renounce his Jewish faith, and, in fact, was a practicing Jew throughout the entirety of his life.
"Everybody Knows" was the fourth single released from Cohen's 1988 album I'm Your Man. Neither the single nor the album charted in the United States, but as an interesting side note, the album hit the top ten in Norway, Sweden, and Finland (so many cool kids in Scandinavia!).
"Everybody Knows" is a dark take on the often brutal world we live in (though some have felt the song was so desolate as to be humorous), punctuated by Cohen delivering hard truths ("everybody knows the dice are loaded" "everybody knows the good guys lost") about life. Cohen sings in a deep baritone giving the song an even bleaker tone, and he's backed by a pulsating synthesizer with a touch of what sounds like a mandolin, while backing vocals over the last part of the song give it almost a hymn like quality. I don't like to use the word genius when it comes to pop music, but this song is one of those instances where an artist--with his lyrics, his vocals, his production--goes so far above what mere mortals produce musically that one can only listen with wonder and appreciate the depth of talent that created such a master work.
Lyric Sheet: "Everybody knows that fight was fixed/The poor stay poor, the rich get rich/That's how it goes/Everybody knows..."
Enjoy:
Republican = Racist
Peace,
emaycee
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