"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

Comments

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Thank you for inspiring the lyric to 'The Ballad of Artie Ray.'

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

A poem by Howard Nemerov

Because I am drunk, this Independence Night,
I watch the fireworks from far away,
from a high hill, across the moony green
Of lakes and other hills to the town harbor,
Where stately illuminations are flung aloft,
One light shattering in a hundred lights
Minute by minute. The reason I am crying,
Aside from only being country drunk,
That is, may be that I have just remembered
The sparklers, rockets, roman candles and
so on, we used to be allowed to buy
When I was a boy, and set off by ourselves
At some peril to life and property.
Our freedom to abuse our freedom thus
Has since, I understand, been remedied
By legislation. Now the authorities
Arrange a perfectly safe public display
To be watched at a distance; and now also
The contribution of all the taxpayers
Together makes a more spectacular
Result than any could achieve alone
(A few pale pinwheels, or a firecracker
Fused at the dog's tail). It is, indeed, splendid:
Showers of roses in the sky, fountains
Of emeralds, and those profusely scattered zircons
Falling and falling, flowering as they fall
And followed distantly by a noise of thunder.
My eyes are half-afloat in happy tears.
God bless our Nation on a night like this,
And bless the careful and secure officials
Who celebrate our independence now.

[Cal Cetín]

People always say that my music's loud
Sorry for party rocking
Neighbors complain saying, "Turn it down!"
Sorry for party rocking
Haters don't like we got the spotlight
Sorry for party rocking
When they talk shit, we just be like
Sorry for party rocking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkTt9k4Y-a8

[Tall Paul]

Has it occurred to anyone that McNeil's "apology" was really sarcasm? Maybe he was just hoping that his final severance check cleared the bank before anyone figured it out.