Leonard Cohen
Lyric guide

The Future

Read The Future lyrics by Leonard Cohen on LyroVerse, with linked artist context and related song paths.

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Page type: lyric reference Artist: Leonard Cohen Canonical path: /leonard-cohen/the-future Related lyric paths: 6 Video embedded: yes
Lyrics

The Future

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Give me back my broken night

My mirrored room, my secret life

It's lonely here

There's no one left to torture

Give me absolute control

Over every living soul

And lie beside me, baby

That's an order

Give me crack and anal sex

Take the only tree that's left

And stuff it up the hole

In your culture

Give me back the Berlin Wall

Give me Stalin and St Paul

I've seen the future, brother

It is murder

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions

Won't be nothing

Nothing you can measure anymore

The blizzard, the blizzard of the world

Has crossed the threshold

And it has overturned

The order of the soul

When they said repent repent

I wonder what they meant

When they said repent repent

I wonder what they meant

When they said repent repent

I wonder what they meant

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 the nations rise and fall

I've heard their stories, heard them all

But love's the only engine 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

Things are going to slide

There'll be the breaking of the ancient

Western code

Your private life will suddenly explode

There'll be phantoms

There'll be fires on the road

And the white man dancing

You'll see a woman

Hanging upside down

Her features covered by her fallen gown

And all the lousy little poets

Coming round

Tryin' to sound like Charlie Manson

And the white man dancin'

Give me back the Berlin Wall

Give me Stalin and St Paul

Give me Christ

Or give me Hiroshima

Destroy another fetus now

We don't like children anyhow

I've seen the future, baby

It is murder

Things are going to slide

When they said repent repent

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Who performs "The Future"?

Leonard Cohen performs "The Future", and this lyric page sits inside the Leonard Cohen catalog on LyroVerse.

Are there related songs to explore after "The Future"?

Yes. The related section below points to Minute Prologue and Ain't No Cure For Love with a short reason for opening each page next.

Where can I find more songs by Leonard Cohen?

Use the artist link near the top of the page or the related paths section below to keep moving through Leonard Cohen's lyric pages.

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