Everybody Knows (Leonard Cohen song)

Song infobox
Name = Everybody Knows


Artist = Leonard Cohen
Album = I'm Your Man
Released = February 1988
track_no = 3
Recorded =
Genre =
Length = 5:37
Writer = Leonard Cohen Sharon Robinson
Label = Columbia Records
Producer =
Chart position =
prev = Ain't No Cure for Love
prev_no = 2
next = I'm Your Man
next_no = 4

"Everybody Knows" is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen and collaborator Sharon Robinson. It has often been covered and used in soundtracks.

Song

"Everybody Knows" was first released on Cohen's album "I'm Your Man", February 1988.

Five minutes, thirty-seven seconds in duration, "Everybody Knows" is known for its somber tone and repetition of the title at the beginning of most verses. Featuring phrases such as "Everybody wants a box of chocolates and a long-stemmed rose...", "Everybody Knows" has been variously described by critics as "bitterly pessimistic" yet funny,Browne, David (June 16, 1988). [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,12102,1305765,00.html Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man : Music Reviews] . "Rolling Stone". Accessed July 14, 2006.] or, more strongly, a "bleak prophecy about the end of the world as we know it."Holden, Stephen (June 21, 2006). [http://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/06/21/movies/21leon.html 'Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man': A Documentary Song of Praise] . "New York Times". Accessed July 14, 2006.]

oundtracks

"Everybody Knows" has been widely used in television and film. Allan Moyle's 1990 film "Pump Up the Volume" was the first and most notable cinematic use of "Everybody Knows". A favorite of protagonist Mark Hunter (Christian Slater, as the operator of an underground radio station), Cohen's song is played from an on-screen phonograph several times during Mark's clandestine broadcasts. A cover by Concrete Blonde is used at the film's end. It is also used in an episode of the Quebec mystery "Fortier". The song is played in English, although French is spoken exclusively in the show.

Cohen's version also appears in Atom Egoyan's 1994 film "Exotica" and is used as theme music for episodes of "SexTV". It is also used in the film "King of Kong". Don Henley's version is heard in episode 219 of the television series "Judging Amy", which aired in 2001. It also serves as bumper music for "The Alex Jones Show", an American radio talk show.

Recently the Concrete Blonde version was featured in the 3rd episode of the first season of Dirty Sexy Money titled the "Italian Banker".

"Everybody Knows" has also been used in an August 2008 anti-smoking advertisement commissioned by the New South Wales government in Australia with the theme "everybody knows smoking causes these diseases ... yet you still do it".

Cover versions

Like many of Cohen's songs, "Everybody Knows" has been covered by several artists
*Concrete Blonde, in "Pump Up the Volume" (1990), and on their compilation album "Still in Hollywood" (1994).
* As "Alle vet jo det", by Kari Bremnes, on "Cohen på norsk" ("Cohen in Norwegian", 1993)
*Don Henley, on "" (1995) and the tribute album "Tower of Song" (1995)
*Washington Squares, on "" (1997)
*Dayna Kurtz, on her album "Beautiful Yesterday" (2004)
*Rufus Wainwright, in Lian Lunson's documentary film "" (2005)
*The Duhks, on their self-titled debut album "The Duhks" (2005)
*Jean-Claude Toran on the album "A Monster Poet Jean-Claude Toran with Ron Richardson" (2004)
*David Ford (musician) covered this song live on each date of his January tour (2008) and recorded it as the B-side to the single "I'm Alright Now"
*Claus Hempler, on the Danish compilation "På Danske Læber" (on Danish lips), including 15 other Danish covers of Cohen's songs
*The Unseen Guest on their 2nd album "Checkpoint" (2007)

References