Cohen, Leonard - The Captain Lyrics

You are beyond brilliant LEONARD

You are U nik

"in a massacre there is no decent place to stand"

I've always thought of this song as Apocalypse Now in nutshell

First I heard of this was from Peterson.  I read Ordinary Men on his suggestion too.

I about died of happiness when Peterson quoted this

jordan peterson :)

@dimegobt just the first 2 :) really great content

... what???

I mean unless you're sayin he's the devil, then sure.

Fuuuuuck Jordan Peterson.

@Chloe Pechlaner Be triggered and hysterical somewhere else. Leonard and Jordan Rock!! True Canadians!! Humor me though, how could Dr Peterson or Leonard possibly be the Devil? This is just a song with some lyrics that's all it is professor.

@T Dunph I love Leonard. I dont understand why Peterson is being brought up; Leonard despised that, and we know it well.

And this song is about the devil, dude. Thats who the Captain is. Thats the whole point of the song.

Simply brilliant.

Un grand artiste. Paix à ton Âme Lenny.

This is Trump/Flynn/Hannity and their whole sick group: "Whatever makes a soldier sad will make a killer smile." LC nails it with one sentence

Obama executed a 16 year old boy with a drone strike. Then his press secretary said the boy "Should have picked a better father". And laughed.
Then Obama joked about killing the Jonas Brothers with a drone strike, and laughed.

This isn't a party problem. This is a chicken hawk problem. Ike was the last soldier we elected.

The killers all grin. Watch the news footage of Ike visiting the troops before D-day. His heart is breaking with every handshake.

Morals are not meant to be born from people watching youtube. While the joke is in bad taste, its universal moral to kill global terrorist at the price of civilian life. Collateral damage.

Just to add a word; IKE was fighting peers. We are fighting terrorists who carry no flag and have no army.

And Trump/Flynn/Hannity are killers, not soldiers. And you know this because you have a deep understanding of culture, politics and history (not to mention the profound ability to strip away your own biases). Bravo.

rip Leonard. the musical poet. singing about everyday experiences. emotion love tragedy loss . thank you Leonard.

I read in it the loss of ideals one fought for when younger . .

nov.11/2016...R.I.P. REMEMBER YOUR "CAPTAINS...."

"The Captain"

Now the Captain called me to his bed
He fumbled for my hand
"Take these silver bars," he said
"I'm giving you command."
"Command of what, there's no one here
There's only you and me --
All the rest are dead or in retreat
Or with the enemy."
"Complain, complain, that's all you've done
Ever since we lost
If it's not the Crucifixion
Then it's the Holocaust."
"May Christ have mercy on your soul
For making such a joke
Amid these hearts that burn like coal
And the flesh that rose like smoke."

"I know that you have suffered, lad,
But suffer this awhile:
Whatever makes a soldier sad
Will make a killer smile."
"I'm leaving, Captain, I must go
There's blood upon your hand
But tell me, Captain, if you know
Of a decent place to stand."

"There is no decent place to stand
In a massacre;
But if a woman take your hand
Go and stand with her."
"I left a wife in Tennessee
And a baby in Saigon --
I risked my life, but not to hear
Some country-western song."

"Ah but if you cannot raise your love
To a very high degree,
Then you're just the man I've been thinking of --
So come and stand with me."
"Your standing days are done," I cried,
"You'll rally me no more.
I don't even know what side
We fought on, or what for."

"I'm on the side that's always lost
Against the side of Heaven
I'm on the side of Snake-eyes tossed
Against the side of Seven.
And I've read the Bill of Human Rights
And some of it was true
But there wasn't any burden left
So I'm laying it on you."

Now the Captain he was dying
But the Captain wasn't hurt
The silver bars were in my hand
I pinned them to my shirt.

"Various Positions" (1984)

Those "Bill of Human Rights" in USA and Russia.
Näillä mennään.!

I'd take the human rights of a US citizen over the human rights of a Saudi citizen any day. Or the human rights of a Romani in Finland. Or, hell, even an individual Finnish citizen who can have the police turn up at his house and search it with no warrant. Can't do that here. Also how 'bout them blasphemy laws? We got rid of those in 1952. I'd also rather be a woman in the US than in Finland. There appears to be the problems there that feminists claim exist here.

Damn, I didn't realize Finland didn't even have total freedom of speech and actually had literal systematic racism until I started reading about it, just to slap you. Hey, you're not Finnish, are you? Sorry, bro.

Grande, come sempre

Think about Putin vs Trump...Who is a Captain ?

What the hell are you talking about?

It is so much in the vien of those who carry the rifle. Shades of the Foreign Legion as well.

THis is a piece of the album "Various Positions"includin Dance me to The end of Love.
I am lucky to have one.
These words .....!

pure poetry

Cohen is not  marvelous Singer but one of the best poets on Earth since the beginig.
Only "Dance me to the endo of love" and "The captain" are the bests songs ever sung and wrote

If I ever get married, I chose "Dance me to the end of love" as the theme song. I really love him Saw him live 2 times.

If not the best, they're among the best.

Idiotar.

There is/was no better lyricist. The music I like too...this song is jaunty almost in a sea shanty way. But Cohen's delivery is also under-rated and masterful. The sardonic tone, yet you can feel the emotion lying beneath it.

You are right

The Bill of Human Righs

Astonishment!! From what album comes that song?

Various Positions 1985

Move me to my core, old man

shades of Vietnam..she still haunts me....yet i knew she was death..and she did her job well...untill one time.....she was stopped and she haunts me still.

Nothing. Just lyrics.

7 deadly sins on one side against against cynical indecision on the other???

The truth is much worse. Many have heard it.

great !

One of the most brilliant songs ever written and no one has heard it.

it's okay. the caprain knows.

"I'm on the side thats always lost, against the side of heaven; I'm on the side of snake eyes tossed against the side of seven"................. the best lyric there has ever been and the best lyric you will ever hear.

what does that mean?????

I think the song is about Evil (especially Evil in the form of authority) and everyone's complicity with it (my favorite line is "There is no decent place to stand in a massacre".) If you imagine the Captain as being pretty much "Satan" it begins to make sense...This makes the last line of the song strait up chilling from one point of view...from another I think the narrator's last act could be seen as a heroic acknowledgment and willingness to carrying the "burden" of his own share in Evil, rather than denying this and projecting it on others, and so just breeding more of it... anyway, thats my take on it more or less...

In short, the horrific evil that's required for any war to happen, and the suffering and complicity of soldiers.