The Future is one of the most popular Leonard Cohen albums, and has come to be recognized as his essential "film-score" album. Nearly every one of the songs on the album has appeared in some notable form in a Hollywood film. Album art for Leonard Cohens The Future album. ... A studio album is a collection of previously unreleased, studio-recorded tracks by a recording artist. ... Leonard Norman Cohen, CC (born September 21, 1934 in Westmount, Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Folk rock is a musical genre, combining elements of folk music and rock music. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Columbia Records is the oldest brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888, and was the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... Rebecca De Mornay (born Rebecca J. Pearch on August 29, 1959)[1] is an American film and television actress. ... The All Music Guide (AMG) is a metadata database about music owned by All Media Guide. ... Image File history File links 3. ... Leonard Norman Cohen, CC (born September 21, 1934 in Westmount, Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. ... For the song by Wham!, see Im Your Man (song). ... Ten New Songs is an album by Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson, released in 2001. ... Leonard Norman Cohen, CC (born September 21, 1934 in Westmount, Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. ...

Most recognizable is the use of three songs ("Waiting for the Miracle", "Anthem", and the title track) in Oliver Stone's graphic 1994 film Natural Born Killers. Songs from this album have also appeared in the films Wonder Boys starring Michael Douglas and The Life of David Gale starring Kevin Spacey. William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946), known simply as Oliver Stone, is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director and screenwriter. ... For the song, see Natural Born Killaz. ... Wonder Boys is a 2000 film adaptation of the Michael Chabon novel of the same name. ... For other people bearing this name, see Michael Douglas (disambiguation). ... The Life of David Gale is a 2003 motion picture that tells the fictional story of a philosophy professor, David Gale, who was dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty and who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a colleague and fellow abolitionist. ... Kevin Spacey (born Kevin Spacey Fowler[1] on July 26, 1959) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actor (film and stage) and director. ...

Widely recognized as one of Cohen's more accessible albums, The Future contains everything from gospel-choir choruses (title track) to synthesizer ballads ("Waiting for the Miracle"), to pop-country ("Closing Time"), to marching band, staccato-like rhythms ("Democracy"). "Democracy" admittedly influenced the opening track of HBO's The Sopranos, "Woke up This Morning", written and performed by A3 and widely miscredited to Cohen.^{[citation needed]} The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase and originally broadcast on the HBO network. ... Alabama 3 is a British acid house, blues, country and gospel music band founded in Brixton, London, in 1989. ...

While not his most commercially successful album internationally, The Future is definitely one of his most musically diverse outings. The album was, however, one of Cohen's biggest chart successes in his native Canada, where "Closing Time" and "The Future" were both significant Top 40 hits. Cohen, whose singing voice is famously an acquired taste, won the 1992 Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist. In his acceptance speech, he quipped that "only in Canada could I win a Best Vocalist award". The Juno Awards are awards of achievement presented to Canadian musical artists and bands. ...

The Future was the last Cohen album to be recorded and produced entirely in analog and then digitised after mixdown. Its working titles were Busted (after the line from "Closing Time") and Be for Real. Its only known outtake, "Never Any Good", was released in 1997 on More Best of Leonard Cohen. Analog recording is the first way humans were able to store sounds for later playback. ...

Cohen's then-girlfriend, actress Rebecca De Mornay, helped produce some of the songs on the album. Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... Rebecca De Mornay (born Rebecca J. Pearch on August 29, 1959)[1] is an American film and television actress. ...

Track listing

Written by Cohen, except where noted.

1. "The Future" – 6:34
2. "Waiting for the Miracle" (Cohen/Sharon Robinson) – 7:43
3. "Be for Real" (Frederick Knight) – 4:32
4. "Closing Time" – 6:00
5. "Anthem" – 6:09
6. "Democracy" – 7:14
7. "Light as the Breeze" – 7:17
8. "Always" (Irving Berlin) – 8:04
9. "Tacoma Trailer" – 5:57

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the talk page for details.

Sharon Robinson is an American songwriter, record producer, and vocalist. ... Frederick Winn Knight (d. ... Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist, one of the most prodigious and famous American songwriters in history. ... Image File history File links Circle-question. ...

The Future

The title track describes a world permeated with imagery of death, murder and chaos. The song is written in the first person, but it is not clear whom the poet is meant to represent. It could just be an ordinary citizen living in the dystopian future, or it could be even the devil himself. In one cryptic line he/she claims to be "the little Jew who wrote the Bible." The key couplet in the chorus reads: "When they said REPENT, I wonder what they meant," which tends to make traditional judeo-Christian values, e.g. humility and mercy, seem quaint and irrelevant in such a violent world. The narrator longs for the tensions of the Cold War ("Give me Stalin and Saint Paul"), which he believes held the most monstrous human proclivities in check. For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვი&#4314... Paul of Tarsus (b. ...

Waiting for the Miracle

In "Waiting for the Miracle" a man (the narrator, presumably Cohen himself) turns down the advances of a female due to his being preocupied with "waiting for the miracle." Ultimately, the narrator relents and proposes marriage to his female companion.

Be for Real

One of two covers on the album

Closing Time

A fast up tempo song which nominally describes the closing of a club or bar as a mataphor for the end of a relationship.

Anthem

A slower number with Kabalistic undertones.^{[citation needed]} This is the song with the well-known refrain, "Ring the bells that still can ring / Forget your perfect offering / There is a crack in everything / That's how the light gets in."

Democracy

Features the anticipatory refrain "Democracy is Coming to the USA." Here Cohen describes Democracy emanating from rather humble origins.

Light as the Breeze

Surprisingly explicit in its imagery for a Cohen recording, "Light as the Breeze" semi-metaphorically describes the act of cunnilingus. Watercolour painting depicting cunnilingus by Achille Devéria Cunnilingus is the act of performing oral sex, using the mouth and tongue to stimulate the female genitals. ...

Always

An eight-plus minute cover of an Irving Berlin song. The second of two covers on the album.

Tacoma Trailer

The final track is a purely instrumental number by Cohen. The first and only instrumental in the Cohen catalogue.