“Democracy” by Leonard Cohen

"Democracy" is Leonard Cohen's state-of-the-union address, the sixth track on his 1992 album The Future and a long one, past seven minutes. He began it around the fall of the Berlin Wall, which set him wondering where democracy comes from, and wrote more than eighty verses, only a fraction of which survived. What's left weighs America's failings against its promise, and Cohen called it an intimate affirmation of the democratic experiment.

The drums, played by Vinnie Colaiuta, set off at a brisk march and never break step, pushing the song toward heartland rock. Featured player Jeff Fisher arranged it and plays keyboards, Dean Parks adds guitar and mandolin, and Jennifer Warnes, Julie Christensen and David Morgan sing backup. Cohen produced, with Steve Lindsey lending a hand.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.