Take This Waltz by Leonard Cohen Lyrics Meaning – Navigating the Dance of Despair and Desire
Lyrics
There’s a shoulder where Death comes to cry
There’s a lobby with nine hundred windows
There’s a tree where the doves go to die
There’s a piece that was torn from the morning
And it hangs in the Gallery of Frost
Aey, aey, aey, aey
Take this waltz, take this waltz
Take this waltz with the clamp on its jaws
Oh, I want you, I want you, I want you
On a chair with a dead magazine
In the cave at the tip of the lilly
In some hallway where love’s never been
On a bed where the moon has been sweating
In a cry filled with footsteps and sand
Aey, aey, aey, aey
Take this waltz, take this waltz
Take its broken waist in your hand
This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz
With its very own breath of brandy and Death
Dragging its tail in the sea
There’s a concert hall in Vienna
Where your mouth had a thousand reviews
There’s a bar where the boys have stopped talking
They’ve been sentenced to death by the blues
Ah, but who is it climbs to your picture
With a garland of freshly cut tears?
Aey, aey, aey, aey
Take this waltz, take this waltz
Take this waltz, it’s been dying for years
There’s an attic where children are playing
Where I’ve got to lie down with you soon
In a dream of Hungarian lanterns
In the mist of some sweet afternoon
And I’ll see what you’ve chained to your sorrow
All your sheep and your lillies of snow
Aey, aey, aey, aey
Take this waltz, take this waltz
With its “I’ll never forget you, you know”
This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz
With its very own breath of brandy and Death
Dragging its tail in the sea
And I’ll dance with you in Vienna
I’ll be wearing a river’s disguise
The hyacinth wild on my shoulder
My mouth on the dew of your thighs
And I’ll bury my soul in a scrapbook
With the photographs there, and the moss
And I’ll yield to the flood of your beauty
My cheap violin and my cross
And you’ll carry me down on your dancing
To the pools that you lift on your wrist
Oh my love, oh my love
Take this waltz, take this waltz
It’s yours now, it’s all that there is
(La-la-la, la-la-la)
(La-la-la, la-la-la)
(La-la-la, la-la-la)
(La-la-la, la-la-la)
(La-la-la, la-la-la)
(La-la-la, la-la-la)
(Aey, aey, aey, aey)
The beguiling waltz tempo and Leonard Cohen’s mournful voice join in a haunting dance through ‘Take This Waltz’, a song imbued with both the elegance of old-world charm and the weight of existential dread. On the surface, Cohen’s lyrics reflect a poetic love story set amidst evocative imagery, but upon closer examination, layers unravel to reveal a complex exploration of love, loss, mortality, and the eternal pursuit of beauty.
‘Take This Waltz’ resonates as much more than a mere melodic meditation; it is a patchwork of passion and poetry. As we delve into what makes this song a masterpiece of melancholy, we unfold the intricate tapestry of life that Cohen weaves with each verse and chorus, guiding listeners through the narrow halls of human emotion.
A Waltz Through Vienna’s Veiled Vistas
Leonard Cohen’s ‘Take This Waltz’ opens with visions of Vienna, a city synonymous with waltzes and the grandeur of past eras. However, Cohen’s Vienna is filled with paradox – it is where beauty and morbidity coexist in an unsettling dance. The imagery of ‘ten pretty women’ and ‘a shoulder where Death comes to cry’ conjures a sense of beauty shadowed by the omnipresence of mortality.
The windows, doves, and frosted gallery present a backdrop that is at once stunning and somber. Cohen is painting a picture of a world where loveliness is inseparable from its fleeting nature – ‘a piece that was torn from the morning’ suggests something precious and ephemeral, now hanging lifeless in a ‘Gallery of Frost.’
Embracing the Clamorous Clamp of Love
The refrains of ‘Take this waltz’ serve as a haunting invitation, perhaps to engage in a dance of romance that is ultimately flawed or doomed. The ‘clamp on its jaws’ adds a visceral element to the song, implying that love, like the waltz, is complex and often painful.
This waltz is not just a dance, but a metaphor for the relationship – at times beautiful and intimate, at other times constricting and laden with hidden traps. Cohen’s plea to ‘take its broken waist in your hand’ speaks to the fragility and inherent imperfection in any bond between two souls.
Leonard Cohen’s Galleries of Melancholia and Metaphor
Cohen was a master of metaphor, and ‘Take This Waltz’ is rife with vivid symbolic images. When he speaks of a place ‘where love’s never been,’ the listener is transported to the caverns of untouched potential and forgotten dreams. The ‘cry filled with footsteps and sand’ encapsulates a feeling of desolate wandering and the silent echoes of lost opportunities.
Each word spills out as a brushstroke in Cohen’s painting of the soul’s landscape, revealing that what we chain to our sorrow – the ‘sheep and lilies of snow’ – represent innocence and purity, marred by the pain we carry.
The Poet’s Dance with Death and Desire
Death’s recurring motif underscores our mortality, while the mention of brandy provides a hint of indulgence and forgetfulness. The song exudes a sense of passion intertwined with a premonition of loss, as if to suggest that in the deep embrace of love and lust, one can also feel the cold breath of the end.
Cohen does not shy away from the theme of death. It is etched deeply in the lyrics as a counterpart to the vitality of love. In acknowledging its presence, he crafts a melody that is rich with the full spectrum of what it means to be alive – from the intoxicating high of desire to the inevitable decay towards which all life tilts.
A Timeless Tango of Unforgettable Phrases
Cohen leaves a legacy of lines that linger long after the song’s final notes fade. The declaration ‘I’ll never forget you, you know’ is uttered with such profundity that it becomes a vow of remembrance, not just from a lover, but also from the artist to his audience.
The enduring power of ‘Take This Waltz’ is in its ability to unearth a well of emotion with memorable lines like ‘I’ll bury my soul in a scrapbook.’ Such poetic declarations evoke a deep-rooted yearning, a dedication to preserving moments of beauty despite their inevitable slip into the encroaching shadows.
