Nevermind

Album: Popular Problems (2014)
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  • The war was lost
    The treaty signed
    I was not caught
    I crossed the line

    I was not caught
    Though many tried
    I live among you
    Well disguised

    I had to leave
    My life behind
    I dug some graves
    You'll never find

    The story's told
    With facts and lies
    I have a name
    But nevermind

    Nevermind (nevermind)
    Nevermind (nevermind)
    The war was lost (the war was lost)
    The treaty signed (the treaty signed)
    There's truth that lives (there's truth that lives)
    And truth that dies (and truth that dies)
    I don't know which (I don't know which)
    So nevermind (so nevermind)

    يا سلام على السلام يا سلام
    يا سلام سلام على السلام

    Your victory was so complete
    Some among you
    Thought to keep

    A record of our little lives
    The clothes we wore
    Our spoons, our knives

    The games of luck
    Our soldiers played
    The stones we cut
    The songs we made

    Our law of peace
    Which understands
    A husband leads
    A wife commands

    And all of this
    Expressions of
    The sweet indifference
    Some call love

    The high indifference
    Some call fate
    But we had names
    More intimate

    Names so deep and names so true (names so deep and names so true)
    They're blood to me (they're blood to me)
    And dust to you (and dust to you)

    There is no need (there is no need)
    That this survive (that this survive)
    There's truth that lives (there's truth that lives)
    And truth that dies (and truth that dies)

    Nevermind (nevermind)
    Nevermind (nevermind)
    I lived a life I left behind (I lived a life I left behind)
    There's truth that lives (there's truth that lives)
    And truth that dies (and truth that dies)
    I don't know which (I don't know which)
    So nevermind (so nevermind)

    يا سلام على السلام يا سلام
    يا سلام يا سلام، يا سلام يا سلام

    I could not kill
    The way you kill
    I could not hate
    I tried, I failed

    You turned me in
    At least you tried
    You side with them
    Whom you despise

    This was your heart
    This swarm of flies
    This was once your mouth
    This bowl of lies

    You serve them well
    I'm not surprised
    You're of their kin
    You're of their kind

    Nevermind (nevermind)
    Nevermind (nevermind)
    I had to leave my life behind (I had to leave my life behind)
    The story's told with facts and lies (the story's told with facts and lies)
    You own the world (you own the world)
    So nevermind (so nevermind)

    Nevermind (nevermind)
    Nevermind (nevermind)
    I lived a life I left behind (I lived a life I left behind)

    I live it full (I live it full)
    I live it wide (I live it wide)
    Through layers of time (through layers of time)
    You can't divide (you can't divide)

    My woman's here (my woman's here)
    My children too (my children too)
    Their graves are safe (their graves are safe)
    From ghosts like you (from ghosts like you)

    In places deep (in places deep)
    With roots entwined (with roots entwined)
    I live the life I left behind (I live the life I left behind)

    The war was lost
    The treaty signed
    I was not caught
    I crossed the line

    I was not caught
    Though many tried
    I live among you
    Well disguised Writer/s: Leonard Cohen, Patrick Leonard
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 3

  • Victor from EuropeIt has always seemed to me that the song tells the story of the "lucifer rebellion" from the point of view of lucifer himself. It seems that he is reproaching many things to ? God? Or to whoever was on the other side.
    The song starts by saying that he lost the war/rebellion, but that he managed to escape but that he lives "among you" (us, humans? ):
    the war was lost
    the treaty signed
    i was not caught
    i crossed the line
    i was not caught
    though many tried
    i live among you
    well-disguised

    to whom the song is directed, he reproaches him for lying about certain things that happened:
    the story's told
    with facts and lies
    i had a name
    but never mind (reminds me of "sympathy for the devil")

    he says that he couldn't kill or hate like him, that he tried. He says that his enemy was allied with whom he despised (human race? )
    i could not kill
    the way you kill
    i could not hate
    i tried, i failed
    you turned me in
    at least you tried
    you side with them whom
    you despise

    he reproaches him his lies and that he has no heart, that he allied himself with them (humans? )
    this was your heart
    this swarm of flies
    this was once your mouth
    this bowl of lies
    you serve them well (irony? )
    i'm not surprised
    you're of their kin
    you're of their kind

    lucifer says that he has lived fully, for a long, long time.
    I live the life
    i left behind
    i live it full
    i live it wide
    through layers of time
    you can't divide

    that the graves of his loved ones are with him, that they will never find them. That he continues to live the same, hidden.
    My woman's here
    my children too
    their graves are safe
    from ghosts like you
    in places deep
    with roots entwined
    i live the life
    i left behind

    the whole song is a reproach to the opposing side:
    - talking about how he couldn't do "evil" like the other side.
    - the other side sided with people it despises.
    - the story being told is a lie.
    It looks like he (lucifer) is saying that he was the good guy
  • Willr from N IrelandLaura I agree but would go further. Is this the story of the Jewish Diaspora? 2 millennia of hiding to survive?
  • Laura from SwedenHi!
    I am an avid Leonard listener and loves listening to Nevermind I have a clear cut idea about its meaning, but as far as I can notice nobody sees it as I do...
    For me the song is about the fate of the Jewish people in exile and to some degree about the curt situation in Europe with the rise of antisemitism within the group of refugees from the Middle East.

    "You turned me in
    At least you tried
    You side with them
    Whom you despise

    This was your heart
    This swarm of flies
    This was once your mouth
    This bowl of lies

    You serve them well
    I’m not surprised
    You’re of their kin
    You’re of their kind"

    Well, he is utterly thought provoking and unfortunately not enough people listen to his songs...
see more comments

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