Democracy — Leonard Cohen

As we were approaching Denver International Airport, I was listening to Leonard Cohen (Album — Leonard Cohen Essentials). This song came on and it spoke to me about where we are today. Of note, the day my son Alec was born (4 June 1989) the Tiananmen Square massacre was broadcast on national television. Cohen wrote it in 1992 and, sadly today I wonder if Democracy is still coming today… The song lyrics speak for themselves.

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 war against disorder;

from the sirens night and day.

From the fires of the homeless, from the ashes of the gay:

Democracy is comming 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.

Behind The Song: “Democracy” by Leonard Cohen

https://youtu.be/DU-RuR-qO4Y?si=eZUFNv34Kpua2v8M