First We Take Manhattan - Leonard Cohen - MP3 instrumental karaoke

"First We Take Manhattan" is the pulsating synth-pop opener of Leonard Cohen's career-defining eighth album, his comeback effort I'm Your Man, which saw him pick up where his new exploration of modern sounds left off with his 1984 album Various Positions. "First We Take Manhattan" leans into political themes (“They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom / For trying to change the system from within”) and was intended to be recorded by his former backup singer Jennifer Warnes until Leonard Cohen took it on. The noirish missive is a shining example of the late Canadian icon's unique knack for melding poetry and pop music, and remains one of his enduring classics, even after his death. Meanwhile, 1988 album I'm Your Man propelled Leonard Cohen to new heights of commercial fame, taking home the trophy as his most successful US studio album and topping the charts in several places in Europe.