LEONARD COHEN: DEMOCRACY IS COMING TO THE U.S.A.

A 1992 Interview With the Seer Who Saw This Coming

Today, Jan. 20, 2025, is the holiday celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. It seems to be overshadowed by other events, taking place today. A therapist friend and I were talking about the “anticipatory anxiety” stalking us and so many of our friends. I reposted this after Election Day 2024. I post it again today because sometimes a song is the most solid shield with which to abate ones fear, pin one’s hopes. You can read the second part of this interview with Leonard Cohen here.

"It's coming to America first/The cradle of the best and of the worst/It's here they got the range/And the machinery for change/And it's here they got the spiritual thirst/It's here the family's broken/And it's here the lonely say/That the heart has got to open/In a fundamental way/Democracy is coming to the U.S.A." --"Democracy" by Leonard Cohen

My favorite Leonard Cohen album has always been The Future (1992).  It was his darkest, until the threat-fulfillment You Want It Darker, which was released …