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Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase
That weren't no DJ, that was hazy cosmic jive David Bowie – Starman
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What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
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What is this?
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What is this?
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A sly reference to Johnny Rivers' “Secret Agent Man” (“They give you a number, and take away your name”), regarding how secret agents hide behind codenames that can be simply numbers… like 007.
If thought of from the perspective of M, these lines could also represent the film being the last with Judi Dench as the character. Her successor will essentially take her number and name.
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what's it to ya? Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah
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In Judaism, there are many ways of referring to God. God’s true name is said to be YHWH, but the vowels are unknown, and pronouncing the name is forbidden based on Exodus 20:7. Instead, observant Jews use the word “HaShem”, which just means “The Name”.
Interestingly, the only people who could pronounce the name in ancient Israelite society were the priests (Cohanim). According to Maimonides, priests would pronounce God’s name in the temple in Jerusalem as part of the Priestly Blessing. Leonard Cohen himself comes from a priestly family (the name Cohen means “priest” in Hebrew), and is familiar with the blessing, but does not know God’s name.
In the context of the following verses, it’s clear that knowing God’s name is a personal matter, not to be judged by others. “There is a blaze in every word”: everyone has the right to see the divine in his or her own way.
To an orthodox Jew, the word Hallelujah itself is forbidden outside of prayer. He knows that some people listening to this song will accuse of using God’s name in vain. This is his response. Why can’t I use God’s name? I don’t even know who he is. “What’s it to you?” Why do you care?
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah
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“Reefer Madness,” which shares a name with the 1936 propaganda film, is G-Eazy’s key stoner song for The Endless Summer.
For the hook, G-Eazy sampled his hero Nas’s hit “Halftime.” The song also samples Ambrose Akinmusire’s riff from “Henya.”
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What is this?
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This line refers to Isaiah 14:12:
Lucifer translates from Latin as “The Morning Star”, or “The Light bringer” (literally the planet Venus) the Romans worshiped this morning star as a God.
ISAIAH 14:12 “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!”
In most Christian churches, Lucifer is synonymous with Satan or The Devil as all the same being.
This line could also be interpreted as Sun of the morning since “the sun” is a star that earth orbits around.
84,018
I’ve always thought he sang “son of the mourning”, but “morning” with the Bible quotation makes sense
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Here the singer is speaking to the devil within himself, rather than some external anthropomorphization