Dance Me to the End of Love by Madeleine Peyroux

I first heard this song last year when it was sung by Madeleine Peyroux, but I didn't realize it was written by Leonard Cohen. I remember that I was in a gelato shop with a friend and fell in love with her voice. I've read a few articles that described how Madeleine Peyroux sounds a lot like Billie Holiday. I love it...listening to a contemporary voice that can travel throughout decades to become classic.

I found an interview with Peyroux where she was asked if she was a storyteller and her response: "Storytelling is a monumental subject..It can be the cause or effect of every kind of communication..I have never liked secrets..so song has given me a way to explore sharing, listening to the truth, without killing myself doing it..."

Songs do provide the medium for telling an epic story within a short time frame or number of measures. Sometimes a chord or a note can say far more than the many words we try to fill in a conversation. That's why music is incredible. It goes beyond the everyday thoughts and elevates us.

"Dance me to the wedding now, 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"


The Sorrow of the King by Henri Matisse

In 1995, a book came out that paired this song with paintings by Henri Matisse. Cohen was credited for Dance Me to the End of Love being a 'deliriously romantic' love song. And so it was meant to be connected sensually with Matisse's work.

Whew...here's to deliriously romantic love...