#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------# #This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the # #song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. # #------------------------------------------------------------------------------## Date: Wed, 2 Aug 95 01:28:41 -0400 From: Clay Jonathan Boutilier THE FUTURE (L. Cohen) from Columbia Records' release THE FUTURE by LEONARD COHEN (CK 53226) Transcribed by Clay Boutilier 07/30/95 URL: http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~cjboutil/ Introduction: Am / / Dm Give me back my broken night, my mirrored room, my secret life G6 E7 Am it's lonely here, there's no one left to torture Dm Give me absolute control over every living soul G6 Am And lie beside me baby, that's an order! Dm Give me crack an anal sex, take the only tree that's left G6 E7 Am and stuff it up the hole in your culture Dm Give me back the Berlin Wall, give me Stalin and St. Paul G6 E7 Am I've seen the future, brother: it is murder. [Chorus:] Dm C Things are gonna slide (slide) in all directions Dm C Won't be nothing (won't be) nothing you can't measure anymore. Dm F The blizzard, the blizzard of the world has crossed the threshold Fm C and it has overturned the order of the soul G When they said (they said) REPENT (repent) REPENT (repent) Am I wonder what they meant G When they said (they said) REPENT (repent) REPENT (repent) Am I wonder what they meant G When they said (they said) REPENT (repent) REPENT (repent) Am I wonder what they meant [second verse: (same chords as first)] You don't know me from the wind, you never will, you never did I'm the little jew who wrote the bible I've seen nations rise and fall, I've heard their stories, heard them all but love's the only engibe of survival Your servant here he has been told to say it clear to say it cold: It's over, it ain't going any further And now the wheels of heaven stop, you feel the devil's riding crop Get ready for the future: it is murder. [repeat chorus] [third verse:] There'll be the breaking of the ancient western code Dm Your private life will suddenly explode Am There'll be phantoms, there'll be fires on the road F7 E and the white man dancing Am You'll see your woman hanging upside down Dm her features covered by her fallen gown Am and all the lousy little poets coming around F7 E trying to sound like Charlie Manson Am and the white man dancing Dm Give me back the Berlin Wall, give me Stalin and St. Paul G6 E7 Am Give me Christ or give me Hiroshima Dm Destroy another fetus now, we don't like children anyhow G6 E7 Am I've seen the future, baby: it is murder. [repeat chorus] G Am When they said (they said) REPENT (repent) REPENT (repent) [end on Am] Chords: EADGBE Am: X02210 C: X32010 Dm: XX0231 E7: 030100 F: 133211 Fm: 133111 F7: 131211 G: 320003 G6: 320000
About the artist behind The Future Chords:
Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1967 album Songs of Leonard Cohen) were rooted in European folk music melodies[citation needed] and instrumentation, sung in a high baritone. The 1970s were a musically restless period in which his influences broadened to encompass pop, cabaret and world music. Since the 1980s he has typically sung in lower registers (bass baritone and bass), with accompaniment from electronic synthesizers and female backing singers.
His work often explores the themes of religion, isolation, sexuality, and complex interpersonal relationships.
Cohen's songs and poetry have influenced many other singer-songwriters, and more than a thousand renditions of his work have been recorded. He has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. Cohen was inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with a speech by Lou Reed on March 10, 2008 for his status among the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters".[1]
Indexed at Wikipedia.