"Elaboration of a tube" line in "Going Home"?

Leonard Cohen's previous album (January 2012)
holydove
Posts: 1579
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2009 5:38 pm
Location: Connecticut

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by holydove »

Here is the "test tube universe" article:

'Test tube universe' hints at unifying theory

Does one of these test tubes hold a baby Universe?
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
12:01AM GMT 26 Dec 2007
Comment
A "universe in a test tube" that could be used to assess theories of everything has been created by physicists.
• Time is running out - literally, say scientists"
• Are we missing a dimension of time?
• Are dark forces at work in space?
The test tube, the size of a little finger, has been cooled to a fraction of a degree above the lowest possible temperature, absolute zero, which is just over 273 degrees below the freezing point of water.
Inside the tube an isotope of helium (called helium three) forms a "superfluid", an ordered liquid where all the atoms are in the same state according to the theory that rules the subatomic domain, called quantum theory.
What is remarkable is that atoms in the liquid, at temperatures within a thousandth of a degree of absolute zero, form structures that, according to the team at Lancaster University, are similar those seen in the cosmos.
"In effect, we have made a universe in a test tube," says Richard Haley, who did the work with Prof George Pickett and other members of the "Ultra-low Temperature Group."
Related Articles
User avatar
StBruno
Posts: 144
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 7:03 pm
Location: Salisbury, UK

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by StBruno »

I think Marsha and Mirek have it nailed - another of Mr Cohen's increasingly scientific metaphors to describe being human. The 'tube' (mouth at one end; at the other ...) is an early evolutionary form seen in nearly all the animal kingdom, elaborated from simple early organisms through to us and, no doubt, whatever species comes next.

The dark humour lies in such a bald statement of the truth. The 'tube' is exactly what we are, stripped of all self, art and pretension, of all our drive for complexity, purpose, and higher meanings. It's part of the developing theme of facing up to the ultimate reality. We're all headed towards the zero, whether you see that as the end of self or union with G-d.

On the up though, we can no more resist the urge for elaboration than amino acids in a lighting storm on the early earth. We're at it now discussing these lines word by word, and its good to know Leonard's still at it too, telling us truths, provoking us with unfamiliar opposition (sages and primative life forms!), and still not making it easy. Can't wait to hear the rest (...live? G-d or science willing)!

B
...like one who believes
User avatar
Violet
Posts: 3197
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 11:07 pm
Location: New York

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by Violet »



.. I wanted to add, as per what I had on another thread

Violet wrote:.. hi I.F..

.. on the "tube" front.. not to forget the wave-particle duality found in Show Me The Place, we may be in subatomic particle territory.

quoting from Wikipedia on this:

Electrons are at the heart of cathode ray tubes, which are used extensively as display devices in laboratory instruments, computer monitors and television sets.[174] In a photomultiplier tube, every photon striking the photocathode initiates an avalanche of electrons that produces a detectable current pulse.[175] Vacuum tubes use the flow of electrons to manipulate electrical signals, and they played a critical role in the development of electronics technology. However, they have been largely supplanted by solid-state devices such as the transistor.[176]
.. as per this quote [and I'm no expert in this], but Leonard's voice, his music and image have been brought to us via such "tube" related electronics. In that sense, his voice, his art, etc., is an elaboration of a tube, as it were. [one possible interpretation, at least]

.. if I'm shying away from "the human as a tube" analogy [with stuff going in one end, and out the other] it's because it lacks, uh, poetic.. you know, "what have you." [in my opinion] I mean, let's not forget, Leonard's a writer, after all--not a scientist.. and, as such, his referencing "the flow of electrons," which manipulate electrical signals might ignite the mind in a more expansive, and in that sense poetic seeming "elaboration"..

I mean, one doesn't want to be left thinking about, you know, the "loo".. [to use a brit expression]
Violet
User avatar
jerry
Posts: 466
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 12:23 am
Location: New Jersey USA

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by jerry »

If it is TUBE then what would be the reason why the BE is cut off on the song. I clearly hear TU and then nothing.
Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.
Leonard Cohen
Mirek
Posts: 323
Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2003 12:16 pm
Location: Poznan, Poland

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by Mirek »

jerry wrote:If it is TUBE then what would be the reason why the BE is cut off on the song. I clearly hear TU and then nothing.
To make it even more mysterious?
User avatar
remote1
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:59 pm
Location: between the snowman and the rain

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by remote1 »

And of course the tube is slang for the penis in Joyce's Ulysses: "I suppose the people gave him that nickname [Mr de Kock] going about with his tube from one woman to another." :lol:
"We are so lightly here"
User avatar
Violet
Posts: 3197
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 11:07 pm
Location: New York

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by Violet »


.. yes, but note the reference is literary, at least.

[I'm going poker-faced on that one]
Violet
danny
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:07 pm

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by danny »

In Scottish patois a 'tube' is a mild insult that could replace with 'sucker' or 'idiot'. I know this adds nothing to the interpretations here but it adds a lot of self-depreciatory humour to the line, and I'll be using it a lot in conversation here with my friends who like Cohen.
User avatar
FOXWOOD
Posts: 1108
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:23 am
Location: Yorkshire UK

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by FOXWOOD »

If have listened to this song many times,

The word "tune" fits and makes perfect sense

He will speak these words of wisdom
Like a sage, a man of vision
Though he knows he’s really nothing
But the brief elaboration of a tune

If you listen carefully he actually says the word "tube".
This does not appear make any sense.
So why has he used the word "tube"?
I feel that we would all like to ask him this.
Then he could speak his words of wisdom,
and elaborate about this tune!

I feel this is Leonard's joke with us.
He is proving to us the truth behind the verse.
It is like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Royal Albert Hall London 1988, Manchester Opera House 18th June 2008,
Manchester Arena 30th Nov 2008, Weybridge 11th July 2009,
Lissadell House 31st July 2010, Dublin 11th & 12th September 2012, London O2 21st June 2013,
Manchester Arena 31st Aug 2013,Leeds 7th September 2013
User avatar
jerry
Posts: 466
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 12:23 am
Location: New Jersey USA

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by jerry »

FOXWOOD wrote: If you listen carefully he actually says the word "tube"
How are you able to hear the word TUBE? I hear TU and the rest is cut off. Regardless of how loud I turn the volume or how close to the speaker I put my hear to try to hear it better.
Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.
Leonard Cohen
scocoh
Posts: 448
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 4:55 am

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by scocoh »

--
Last edited by scocoh on Sat Jul 21, 2012 9:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
antwerp guy
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:17 am
Location: Antwerp, Belgium

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by antwerp guy »

I know this sounds dull, but I think you can read this quite simply as a speaking tube. Something like this: http://www.aqpl43.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/ ... .htm#speak

The words are not his, he is just the speaking tube passing them on...

"But he does say what I tell him
Even though it isn’t welcome
He will never have the freedom
To refuse

He will speak these words of wisdom
Like a sage, a man of vision
Though he knows he’s really nothing
But the brief elaboration of a (speaking) tube"

The 'brief' could suggest his mortality, I guess.
1979 Antwerpen (Koningin Elisabethzaal) - 1993 Gent (Flanders Expo) - 2008 Brugge (Minnewaterpark), Paris (Olympia), Brussel (Vorst Nationaal) - 2009 Antwerpen (Sportpaleis) - 2010 Las Vegas (Caesars Palace) X 2 - 2012 Gent (Sint-Pietersplein) X 2
Chubi
Posts: 108
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 12:39 am
Location: Germany

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by Chubi »

Another Cohen, another tube:
Le baiser, cette soudure de deux tubes digestifs.
The kiss, this welding of two digestive tubes.

( Albert Cohen, in Solal)
User avatar
Violet
Posts: 3197
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 11:07 pm
Location: New York

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by Violet »


.. okay, that reference may be literary, but that doesn't mean it isn't somewhat disgusting sounding. I really think it's to veer away from the more biological analogies. (!).. [for my taste, at any rate]

Violet
User avatar
surrender
Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 7:53 pm

Re: "elaboration of a tube" - any interpretation suggestions

Post by surrender »

"the brief elaboration of tube"

The line took me back in time - to biology lessons at school very long ago.
I can recall a little animal with tubular body and huge regeneration ability, which was an important chain in the evolution.
The name is hydra...; see eg. hydra virissima (green hydra):

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecolo ... _hydra.htm

I hope it makes sense, it makes me smile anyway:

He will speak these words of wisdom
Like a sage, a man of vision
Though he knows he's really nothing
But the brief elaboration of tube
1988: Amsterdam 1993: Nijmegen 2008: Amsterdam|Oberhausen 2009: Cologne|Antwerp|Barcelona 2010: Ghent (8/20-21-22)|Lille
2012: Ghent (8/12)|Amsterdam (8/21-22)|Verona|Lisboa 2013: Antwerp|Brussels|Rotterdam|Amsterdam


After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music...
(Aldous L. Huxley)
Post Reply

Return to “OLD IDEAS”