Life & Culture

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Leonard Cohen’s Ode to Passion

By Senior Planet Tuesday, August 5, 2014 1 Comment Share This:

When we announced our first ever Senior Sex Month in the spring, a site visitor commenting under our announcement reminded us of Leonard Cohen’s classic 1984 song “Dance Me to the End of Love.”

Jan Marshall said: “See this unbelievably poignant ode to love. Whether you are still in the throes of your own dance of hearts or simply remembering, can you watch it and not weep from the beauty of this video.”

With a thank you to Jan, here it is.

Cohen, a Buddhist, has long seen love and passion as an armor against despair as well as a weapon for peace – and so it might come as no surprise that this song’s origin is darker than its enigmatic lyrics immediately suggest.

In an interview Cohen said that “Dance me” was inspired by the Holocaust – but, he said, “It is the same language that we use for surrender to the beloved, so that the song – it’s not important that anybody knows the genesis of it, because if the language comes from that passionate resource, it will be able to embrace all passionate activity.” Read more about the song on Wikipedia.

This music video of the song, from his album “Various Positions,” was recorded live in 2010, when Cohen was 76.

COMMENTS

One response to “VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Leonard Cohen’s Ode to Passion”

Joan Price:

Tuesday, August 5, 2014 at 4:46pm

Love this, thank you! I already loved the song by Leonard Cohen, and seeing the video with the old couples dancing with photos of their younger selves added a dimension that touched my heart.

My husband and I loved to dance together before I lost him to cancer. I have a red heart that he painted on a piece of paper with the inscription “Dancing with you!” in his handwriting. I taped it to the mirror of my dance room, where I see it every time I dance.

Reply to Joan Price