The Traitor

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sturgess66
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Re: The Traitor

Post by sturgess66 »

Paz wrote:i was just wondering wether anyone knows the meaning behind The Traitor?
its such a beautiful song, but i just cant work it out!!
"vaigor1" uploaded this short clip on YouTube today, where Leonard speaks about the meaning -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVRDhVZzJqY
JoePar
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Re: The Traitor

Post by JoePar »

The word lurking in the background of this song is "surrender". It is never spoken, but it is there. The "traitor" has forsaken a lover's surrender for the routine of sex. Passion has given way to expedience and technique. It's a kind of death for an artist, too. The artist, via his art, yearns for the analog of "la petite mort'" - the little death - that the lover experiences in orgasm. A lover or artist who just "goes through the motions" is a kind of traitor.
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prokrity
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Re: The Traitor

Post by prokrity »

To me, the song seemed like the story of a relationship and how the narrator struggles to deal with his conscious regarding the relationship. With time as the affection between the couple faded, the narrator was still playing the role of a perfect lover to please her partner and the judgemental society. But one day the dreamer inside him wins him over and decides not to fake it anymore, and as a result, the relationship goes in a downward spiral and the people label him as the traitor of their relationship. At the beginning of the relationship, all he wanted is to be true to his lover. But as he becomes older, he realizes it is himself to whom he should be true to.
yopietro
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Re: The Traitor

Post by yopietro »

prokrity wrote: Tue Apr 25, 2017 6:25 pm But one day the dreamer inside him wins him over and decides not to fake it anymore, and as a result, the relationship goes in a downward spiral and the people label him as the traitor of their relationship.
I used to think that the "dreamers" were the protagonists of this song in their adversarial existential war against the "men of action." But it dawned on me that the singer is a traitor to the men of action. He has become a dreamer. The dreamer is the one who dreams but doesn't do. He lives comfortably in his safety zone and nourishes his heart with fantasy. The man of action is out in the world doing, actually fighting the fight. In the song, the men of action are falling back and the singer is needed. Their numbers are dwindling. But he has deserted them from above, and become a dreamer himself. Kept inside his bubble of security and fear. Unwilling to leave and hurt his lover and join the men of action out in the world. The ones who are really doing, and who are loving authentically and fully, not habitually nor out of idle duty...
NHPM
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Re: The Traitor

Post by NHPM »

Apart from the words of "The Traitor" and the account of it Cohen gave in an interview, there are numerous guides to his meaning. There is the earlier version of the song, which we can correct for obvious transcription errors. But the earlier words are simply less satisfactory metaphors. He later found a better way to express the thoughts. He speaks in interviews of working on a verse (of his writings generally, not this song particularly), of seeking to avoid the “slogans that jamb the political airwaves”, of seeking a distinct expression different from the current norm, of discarding verses that he judges unsatisfactory because they conform too closely to the expression of others.

Next there is an account of something Cohen said about The Traitor:
by simonelli » Sat Dec 15, 2007 6:49 pm
I remember reading in a book somewhere that The Traitor is simply an autobiographical memory of Cohen's time in London, hence, the swan and the 'English river'. It's about a love affair he had here, but so Cohen-esquely imbued with universal meaning.

I think that is correct (except for the “simply”. The metaphors and the symbols of a Cohen poem are not meant to confuse but they add layers of garb).

The swan and the rose are characteristics of the one woman. Serenity and generosity.

The judges. Others? Or the judgemental characteristics of the two characters? I think both meanings concurrently.

Mother. Just a vehicle to introduce the idea that some of the outcome is not within his sole control, but the contribution made by ‘the atmosphere’. Notice he avoids attribution of blame to the Englishwoman or any other designated party. He often reflected that outcomes, good or bad, owe much to luck, regardless of one’s intentions. This verse is no more than a poetic expression of that thought. And no less.

3rd stanza. He judges his own motives as flawed, impure. He is ordained as a monk as has a thoughtful view of what is right. He also reflects in interviews on the merits and the methods of confession. She recognises she may wither without him. His nature, his manner is to assist others by conducting honest, sincere, sympathetic conversation. This verse is a poetic form of that process.

4th stanza. Recognition from the couple and associated others that the relationship would not last and would come under critical review. Dreamers = his own conscience as well as the voices of critical associates. Men of action= those who dared to take initiative and who now find the need for retreat.

5th stanza. “My falsity” is his conscience judging his initiative, accepting the affair was lust rather than love. It weakens his resolve.

6th stanza. Far and wide he is recognised as not a true lover. Cohen speaks in interviews of nan-woman relationships as being the most difficult, complex, necessary of human endeavours. “Battlefields”, a theme of his life when he discovered his money had been stolen, became less part of his language later in life, and he did not regret having multiple serial relationships instead of a lifelong partner.

7th stanza. “Long ago” means she recognised the relationship was ending before it ended. They continued though they knew it must end.

8th stanza. While they are still together, other associates recognise the relationship must end. And say so.

“Barcelona” paying tribute to the Spanish Civil War? It never entered his mind.
The “Rose of Sharon” in the earlier version was a gratuitous reference to “Song of Solomon” and not the meaning Cohen sought. It was rewritten because he rejected it as being a ‘slogan’. He could do better.
The symbolism of the Rose and the Swan? Merely symbols for her Englishness from a poetic American.
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Gullivor
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Re: The Traitor

Post by Gullivor »

Leonard Cohen:
[explaining his song, "The Traitor"] It was about the feeling that we have of betraying some mission that we were mandated to fulfill, and being unable to fulfill it. And then coming to understand that the real mandate was not to fulfill it, and that the deeper courage, was to stand guiltless in the predicament in which you found yourself

Hope all is well and everyone is staying health and safe in these times.
Gully
We’ve all come to
This moment
To find out
Who we are.
Painted colors
Scribed words
Sweetly found.
~Gully~
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