It's not raunchy, really. This song is actually about the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. Many people who were afflicted with AIDS at this time, before treatments became available, had visible, physical symptoms of it. People were judgmental about it. People were ostracized and demonized for it. Racism and homophobia went along with it. A sense of risk was pervasive throughout the dating world, straight or gay. There are references to other political and humanitarian issues of the time, but the song is primarily about this. Humanity was generally unkind to AIDS patients, many of whom acquired it before even knowing it existed, many contracted it from their own longtime-married spouses, many through medical procedures. It was a virus, but it was years before people stopped letting it feed into their personal prejudices. Some people probably still do.
Young man, this song was a criticism of the current state of the world. It's amazing to me how young people today can pick a couple of words out of a really important song and just immediately say, "cancel it". What a world. Try to be more curious and less judgmental. This world needs young people who can think through things and not just jump on any perceivable bandwagon. Leonard Cohen spoke for humanity and wrote about humanity. Listen to him more before deciding you've "cancelled" him.
@@danielhoughtaling818 Leonard Cohen talked about this in an interview. And this song contains several verses that are pretty much a literal description of this time period.
