An tseachtain seo thart luaigh mé píosa a bhí ar BLAS maidir le Leonard Cohen agus a chara, Philip Cummings, file.
Seo thíos focail an dáin a luaígh mé roimhe seo, iad curtha ar fáil ag Philip féin.
Seo an dán más maith leat é -- ach ní mór é a cheol...
Túr Cohen*
Is uaigneach mé, sa túr amhrán seo
ach tá focail fhiána fhiara i ndiaidh sleamhnú tríd an dure
is ní thuigim iad, cé go bhfuil siad fíor;
ah, cultúr ársa aisteach do mo tharraingt siar.
Is báite mé, sa chúr focal seo
ach tá snámh in aghaidh an easa ar mo thoil go fóill
is tuigfidh mé iad, fiú má théann daor
orm cultúr ársa aisteach a thabhairt i dtír.
Tá an oíche ag teacht, tá an bás ag teannadh,
tá mé tá tú tá sé ar an iPod agam
fiú má fhaighim ciall, nach mbeidh sé mall, rómhall?
Scairt sa dorchadas, teilifís don dall?
Chaith mé blianta anseo, ag cumadh liom
gan ceol an tuisil ghinidigh ina chabhair dom
ach tá fonn ag teacht ó oileán anoir,
guthanna Gaeilge do mo tharraingt ó The Echoing Years.
* Nóta ó Philip Cummings, 'Foilsíodh dánta Gaeilge sa díolaim ó Cheanada agus ó Éirinn dar teideal The Echoing Years. Bhí dánta le Leonard Cohen sa rannóg Ceanadach. I gcomhrá le Louis de Paor faoin iontas agus faoin bhród a bhí orainn beirt as a bheith in aon leabhar le Cohen, luaigh de Paor go b’fhéidir gur cuireadh cóip den leabhar chuig Cohen agus go raibh ár gcuid focal Gaeilge i ndiaidh sleamhnú isteach sa teach s’aige i nganfhios d’éinne. Chuir an tsamhail sin ag cumadh mé…Más féidir, is fearr na focail thuas a chanadh le fonn an amhráin Tower of Song de chuid Cohen.'
Agus mar aguisín seo againn filíocht cheolmhar an fhir féin. Leonard Cohen lena bhunleagan den dán/amhrán 'Democracy' In agallamh in 1992 ar seisean faoin dán/amhrán seo,
'I have about 50 verses of 'Democracy' that I discarded. It examined many many themes. It was occasioned by the collapse of the Berlin Wall. It is a song where there's no inside and no outside. This is just the life of the democracy.'
Democracy
It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.
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.
It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on ...
I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.