Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Leonard Norman Cohen, CC GOQ (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships. Cohen has been inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour.
While giving the speech at Cohen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 10 March 2008, Lou Reed described Cohen as belonging to the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters."
Cohen was born on 21 September 1934 in Westmount, Montreal, Quebec, into a middle-class Jewish family. He attended Roslyn Elementary School. His mother, Marsha Klinitsky, of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry, emigrated from Lithuania while his great-grandfather emigrated from Poland. He grew up in Westmount on the Island of Montreal. His grandfather was Lyon Cohen, founding president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. His father, Nathan Cohen, who owned a substantial Montreal clothing store, died when Cohen was nine years old. On the topic of being a Kohen, Cohen has said that, "I had a very Messianic childhood." He told Richard Goldstein in 1967. "I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest." Cohen attended Westmount High School, beginning in 1948 where he was involved with the Student Council and studied music and poetry. He became especially interested in the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca. As a teenager, he learned to play the guitar, and formed a country-folk group called the Buckskin Boys. Although he initially played a regular acoustic guitar as a teenager, he soon switched to playing a classical guitar after meeting a young Spanish flamenco guitar player who taught him "a few chords and some flamenco."
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".
Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family at the age of 13. He began his career there in 1954, working with Sun Records owner Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was the most important popularizer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country and rhythm and blues. RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage the singer for over two decades. Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", released in January 1956, was a number one hit. He became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of network television appearances and chart-topping records. His energized interpretations of songs, many from African American sources, and his uninhibited performance style made him enormously popular—and controversial. In November 1956, he made his film debut in Love Me Tender.
Dime quién conocía
Qué era entonces la vida
Andaba el mundo en plan de hallar la libertad
Y rechazar lo que el mundo les imponía
Dime quién encendía
Toda esa rebeldía
Ruseau y Luther King, Sartre y Gagarín
Qué es lo que me perdí cuando yo no existía?
Allá no fue mentira
Sin miedos liberemos nuestros sueños
death it walks another night
death it holds onto us tight
death it will not let you go
i will never let you go
have no mouth but i scream
there is no blood for me to bleed
terror lives in these eyes
for the dead, the dead alive
dead, dead, dead alive
dead, dead, dead have eyes
dead, dead, dead alive
dead, dead, dead have eyes
keep my skull inside your heart
remember death tore us apart
remember that we were young
i remember being young
have no mouth but i scream
there is no blood for me to bleed
terror lives in these eyes
for the dead, the dead alive
dead, dead, dead alive
dead, dead, dead have eyes
dead, dead, dead alive
dead, dead, dead have eyes
i didn't want to be born
i didn't want to be born
death it walks another night
death it holds onto us tight
death it will not let you go
i will never let you go
running out of empty graves
running out of things to say
terror lives in these eyes
for the dead, the dead alive
dead, dead, dead alive
dead, dead, dead have eyes
dead, dead, dead alive
dead, dead, dead have eyes
i didn't want to be born
i didn't want to be born
dead, dead, dead alive
dead (dead), dead (dead), dead alive
dead, dead, dead alive
dead (dead), dead (dead), dead alive
the dead, the dead alive
Marching down the road I look back to see who is lost
Forget about the past, I will leave my name behind my back, behind me, forsaken
Head against the walls I will burn every fucking flag in front of everyone, betrayed.
To hear their screams louder
Blood all over the ground, fertilizer for the disease
It grows high, it grows lonely
Another riot is born right now, another widow cry in front of me betrayed
Isolated from this tragedy. Fated for a deeper void.
There's no light to see outside just a dark night filled with all your fears
Today's ending and there's no light to see anymore, everything is gone
The tension in the air is swelling like a bubble about to break
Students have shut down universities and taken to the streets
The DNC has left Chicago burned and frayed
Cover your eyes
You think America’s recovered from the self-inflicted wounds it took in 1968?
Still Corretta led his people through the Memphis streets
In spite of the nightmare that was made out of a dream
[x2]
Young men sent overseas, their names are in a lottery that kills
There are social clashes, body counts, and rioting on TV screens
A bullet put another Kennedy to sleep
Cover your eyes
You think America’s recovered from the self-inflicted wounds it took in 1968?
Still Corretta led his people through the Memphis streets
In spite of the nightmare that was made out of a dream
[x2]
So why this disconnect in our youth after 40 years?
mir warte no bis d'sunne über dr chiuche schteit
u schliiche zu de schine we dr zeiger uf 12i zeigt
u we dr zug chli schpäter vor schtadt här chunnt
ligsch du hinder däm boum wo mir uf ds gleis hei gleit
dr zug heutet a u ei typ schtigt us
louft füre zum boum - jitz schteisch du uf
i gumpe us em busch - haute dä typ in schach
u du schpringsch zum erschte wage
u hänksch d'kupplig us
i schiesse i d'luft u rüeffe
lööt dr höiptling frei
u si gsee dass mir dr lokfüerer aus geisle hei
u dä bringt üs när mit dr lok bis dert
wo dr waud aafat u wo mir üsi ponies hei
aber jitz müesse mr los wüu de dr zug glii chunnt
u we öppis schiefgeit - egau us welem grund
träffe mir üs punkt 2 uf em pouseplatz
u am 3 mues i när i d'flöteschtund
zwe indianer bi de teppichschtange
ir wüeschti vo nevade
bi de baangleis z'niederwange
Aquel año mayo duró doce meses
Tú y yo acabábamos de nacer
Y un señor muy serio moría del disgusto
En la primera página del ABC
Los claveles mordían a los magistrados
París era un barrio con acordeón
Marx prohibió a sus hijos que llegaran tarde
A la dulce hoguera de la insurrección
La poesía salió a la calle
Reconocimos nuestros rostros
Supimos que todo es posible
En 1968
Jean Paul Sartre y Dylan cantaban a dúo
Jugaban al corro Lenin y Rambeau
Los relojes marcaban 40 de fiebre
Se hablaba de sexo en la empresa Renault
Dos y dos ya nunca más sumaron cuatro
Sufrió mal de amores hasta De Gaulle
En medio de Praga crecían amapolas
Como un reto rojo al gris hormigón
La poesía salió a la calle
Reconocimos nuestros rostros
Supimos que todo es posible
En 1968
Pero no pudimos reinventar la historia
Mascaba la muerte chicle en el Vietnam
Pisaban los tanques las flores de Praga
En México lindo tiraban a dar
Mientras Che cavaba su tumba en Bolivia
Cantaba Massiel en Eurovisión
Y mi padre llegaba puntual al trabajo
Con el cuello blanco y el traje marrón
Si ahora encuentro a aquel amigo
leo en el fondo de sus ojos
Que ya se secaron las flores
De 1968
Los cuadros hicieron huelga en los museos
París era rojo, San Francisco Azul
Un vagabundo fue elegido alcalde
Y la Sorbona estaba en Katmandú
Sobreviva, imbécil, es el rock o la muerte
Beba Coca-Cola, cante esta canción
Que la primavera va a durar muy poco
Que mañana es lunes y anoche llovió
Si ahora encuentro a aquel amigo
Leo en en el fondo de sus ojos
Que ya se secaron las flores
De 1968.
One, Two, Three,
There ain’t a thing in the world to take me back
Like a dark-haired girl in a Cadillac
On main street of an old forgotten town
The sun light shines in fine white lines
On weathered stores with open signs
They may as well just close ‘em down.
Chorus:
And you look like 1968 or was it ‘69
When I heard you caught a bullet
Well I guess you’re doing fine
And you speak of revolution
Like it’s some place that you’ve been
Well you’ve been a long time gone
Good too see you my old friend.
Oh now that sign is gone away
Replaced instead by silver age
And moonlight falling on the avenue
Oh and I could sleep if you would drive
I just can’t keep my mind alive
And you’ve got nothing better else to do
And we've all been looking for you
Like a hobo you walk in
Well how the mighty all have fallen
How the holy all have sinned
Is that the clattering of sabers
Or the cool September winds
Well you’ve been a long time gone
Good to see you my old friend.
And there’s just two times a day like this
You find this kind of blissfulness
The sun it sets and rises in the morn.
And we’re shakin hands; I rub my eyes
Free up all my alibis
Just a blinking like the day I was born
Repeat Chorus
And when the rounds were fired that April you were on the balcony
When ten thousand tear drops hit the ground in Memphis, Tennessee
You were a prideful rebel yell among a million marching men.
And you’ve been a long time gone
Good to see you my old friend
Well you’ve been a long time gone
Dave Alvin/Chris Gaffney
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI/Calhoun Street Music/Ensaga Songs, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)
Johnny gave Joe his first cigarette
And Joe lit the filter and then he smoked the whole pack
And Joe bought all the gas in Johnny's old Ford
He always said that's what friends were for.
When Johnny married Tina, Joe married Dee
Two blonde-haired sisters from Covington, Kentucky
And in '67 Johnny joined the Corps
Joe did too, but he never knew what for.
And tonight in this barroom he's easin' his pain
He's thinkin' of someone, but he won't say the name
Folks say he's a hero, but he'll tell you he ain't
He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968.
Johnny went from job to job tryin' to make ends meet
And Tina divorced him back in '83
Now thirty years come and thirty years go
And Johnny's got a grandkid that he barely knows.
And tonight in this barroom he's easin' his pain
He's thinkin' of someone, but he won't say the name
Folks say he's a hero, but he'll tell you he ain't
He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968.
Well Dee calls Johnny every now and then
And talks about her children and her third husband
But when he asks about someone they used to know
Dee says, âJohnny that was so long ago.â
Tonight in this barroom he's easin' his pain
He's thinkin' of someone, but he won't say the name
Folks say he's a hero; he'll tell you ain't
He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968