#———————————-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. #
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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
