Songfacts®:

• Leonard Cohen dated Rebecca De Mornay in the early 1990s. The actress was the muse for many of Cohen's songs during that period, and here he paints a portrait of a person who is looking for someone better.
  
  I waited half my life away
  There were lots of invitations
  And I know you sent me some
  But I was waiting
  For the miracle, for the miracle to come
  
  Though the woman had made it clear she was interested in the singer, he had insisted on waiting for someone more perfect. Eventually, rather than waiting forever for something unattainable, he settles for her. It is then he realizes she was the answer all along.
• Rebecca De Mornay also served as co-producer for The Future. Engineer Leanne Unger recalled to Uncut magazine how Cohen dismissed their suggestion for this song.
  
  "At one point she and I had an idea for how the background vocals should sound - wispy and ethereal. We tried it, and it turned out to be over his dead body! He really didn't like it. It's the one time I can think of where he got really angry. He felt his vision was being usurped. Needlessly to say, it ended up his way."
• The song was co-written by Sharon Robinson. After co-penning "Everybody Knows" in 1988, Robinson become Cohen's frequent writing collaborator.
• "Waiting For The Miracle" features prominently on the soundtrack to Oliver Stone's 1994 film Natural Born Killers, along with two other Leonard Cohen songs: "The Future" and "Anthem."