The background of this 1992 NRK interview with Agnes Moxnes is a performance of Democracy, and the notions invoked by this song are the primary topics of the interview. Watch as Leonard Cohen points out what he finds attractive about Ross Perot, George Bush, and Bill Clinton (and Bill Clinton’s “lovely wife”). Hear the Canadian singer-songwriter explain that he sometimes feels that he is the leader of a “small constituency” of those who do not feel represented and are consequently, if not rebellious, at least “irritated” and “saddened.” Marvel as he references G. K. Chesterton, noting that democracy is like a religion in that it’s never really been tried.1
Most enlightening, however, are Leonard’s comments on his characterization of politics as used in Democracy: “It’s politics in a very, very personal sense.”
Politics in a personal sense. It’s as if you’re asked to think of democracy the way you think of a lover or a friend or a child or a parent … It’s a very personal and useless view. The things of the heart are really useless and that’s their value. They can’t be put to work. You just live with them.
This video can be accessed at 1992 NRK Leonard Cohen Interview
Thanks to Gordana Stupar, who alerted me to this video.
I am republishing selected posts from my former Leonard Cohen site, Cohencentric, here on AllanShowalter.com (these posts can be found at Leonard Cohen). This entry was originally posted Aug 24, 2016.
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- The Chesterton quotation is actually “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” [↩]