Dance Me to the End of Love Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
[Verse 2]
Oh, let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Oh, dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
[Verse 3]
Dance me to the wedding now, oh, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
[Verse 4]
Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love
[Verse 5]
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand, touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
About
From the 1984 album Various Positions, this classic by poet Leonard Cohen generated much debate and discussions as to the meaning and the background of the song.
While different people find different meanings, Leonard Cohen himself describes his motive for writing this fantastic piece –
‘Dance Me to the End Of Love’ … it’s curious how songs begin because the origin of the song, every song, has a kind of grain or seed that somebody hands you or the world hands you and that’s why the process is so mysterious about writing a song. But that came from just hearing or reading or knowing that in the death camps, beside the crematoria, in certain of the death camps, a string quartet was pressed into performance while this horror was going on, those were the people whose fate was this horror also. And they would be playing classical music while their fellow prisoners were being killed and burnt.“
sourced here
In 1994, a live version of the song was released as a CD promotional single b/w “Suzanne”.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Despite sounding like a love song, Cohen says his inspiration for “Dance Me to the End of Love”:
came from just hearing or reading or knowing that in the death camps, beside the crematoria, in certain of the death camps, a string quartet was pressed into performance while this horror was going on, those were the people whose fate was this horror also. And they would be playing classical music while their fellow prisoners were being killed and burnt.
Read the song bio and annotations!
- 1.Dance Me to the End of Love
- 3.The Law
- 5.Hallelujah
- 6.The Captain