“A laugh for the way my life has gone
A laugh for the love of a friend
A laugh for the fools in the eyes of the world
The love that will never end
Ha Ha Ha...
Let's hear a laugh for the man of the world
Who thinks he can make things work
Tried to build the New Jerusalem
And ended up with New York
Ha Ha Ha... “
- Laughter by Bruce Cockburn
Another of Canadian songwriter Bruce Cockburn’s great lyrics. To a jaunty little rhythmic guitar thing Cockburn lines up these lines that give thanks, socially comment and prophetically nail it, all in the one seamless song! Here he starts subjectively with the love of friend and then the Christian community (1 Corinthians 1 speaks of the fools who follow Christ)and God’s eternal love. Then the second stanza goes objective and finds him laughing at those trying to do life without God. I simply adore “Tried to build the New Jerusalem/And ended up with New York.” Funny, sad and true. Those immigrants who sailed for freedom and the Promised Land failed to deliver paradise. Cockburn’s judgement would be that God’s absence caused the failure. New York might not be hell but it is a joke in comparison to the New Jerusalem!
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