Frist We Take Manhattan
This song is a fav of mine but I could never really get what he was inspired by though.
For some us who have seen the Berlin wall come away with different impressions of that experience. For me I remember it was dark cold and drizzling rain, the wall with all her graffiti seemed to sweat a desperate tear. Of course I was young and very likely impressed by her symbol long before ever feeling her presence… hmm.
Two versions of this song/poem others have done it without the controversy of course, here is a quick reference below making mention to Lenard’s contribution to it and how he punched through another poem to shape it.
I grew up not far from there my old man was born in that neighborhood. You cannot overlook the culture of the area and the time in which these men then boys lived through.
I find personally that disagreement has more to do with views shape by their pasts then the present. And, is that not what the song “The Living Years” is saying?
Anyways something to think on;;
The Daily Telegraph's Robert Sandall likewise observed the prophetic character of the song, but emphasized the song's political statement, placing it in the context of the last days of the Soviet Union.[3]
Cohen explained himself in a backstage interview:[4] "I think it means exactly what it says. It is a terrorist song. I think it's a response to terrorism. There's something about terrorism that I've always admired. The fact that there are no alibis or no compromises. That position is always very attractive. I don't like it when it's manifested on the physical plane – I don't really enjoy the terrorist activities – but Psychic Terrorism. I remember there was a great poem by Irving Layton that I once read, I'll give you a paraphrase of it. It was 'well, you guys blow up an occasional airline and kill a few children here and there', he says. 'But our terrorists, Jesus, Freud, Marx, Einstein. The whole world is still quaking.'"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_We_Take_Manhattan
Irving Layton was born on March 12, 1912, as Israel Pincu Lazarovitch in Târgu Neamţ, a small town in Romania, to Jewish parents, Moses and Klara Lazarovitch. He migrated with his family to Montreal, Quebec in 1913, where they lived in the impoverished St. Urbain Street neighbourhood, later made famous by the novels of Mordecai Richler. There, Layton and his family (his father died when he was 13) faced daily struggles with, among others, Montreal's French Canadians, who were uncomfortable with the growing numbers of Jewish newcomers.[2] Layton, however, identified himself not as an observant Jew but rather as a freethinker.
In his lifetime Layton attracted some criticism for his bluster, self-promotion, and long-windedness.[citation needed] He is remembered by many as one of the first Canadian rebels of poetry, politics, and philosophy. At Layton's funeral, Leonard Cohen, Moses Znaimer, and David Solway were among those who gave eulogies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Layton
the first version, poor quality video