"I Thank You, I Thank You for Doing Your Duty"

As often happens, recent events (such as the Donald McNeil apology) have reminded me of lines from Leonard Cohen, here from A Singer Must Die (1974):

And I thank you, I thank you for doing your duty
You keepers of truth, you guardians of beauty
Your vision is right, my vision is wrong
I'm sorry for smudging the air with my song ….

I am so afraid that I listen to you
Your sun glassed protectors they do that to you
It's their ways to detain, their ways to disgrace
Their knee in your balls and their fist in your face
Yes and long live the state by whoever it's made
Sir, I didn't see nothing, I was just getting home late