The song title 'Dance Me to the End of Love' is explaining that something, anything that seems strong or eternal, even love, has an end. This relates directly to the song itself.
The song is about the string quartet who were forced to play beside the crematoriums in the death camps. The members of the quartet were going to be killed after in the crematorium but were allowed to play music. This playing of music is joy and happiness to the members of the quartet, the last piece of love and joy they will experience before their end.
The song lyrics themselves describe a man and woman who are dancing, yet the man is asking for the woman to dance him or help him to do many things. This couple are exactly like the string quartet. Both of these groups of people are going to be killed in the crematorium but, they can experience joy, whether it'd be playing music or dancing, for the last time until before their end. It shows that both these groups, predominantly the couple, are enjoying themselves through something they love and are forgetting all their troubles and concerns of their deaths. He is asking her to take them back to happier times and reflect on their lives and realise the happiness in their lives before their end.
Key lines
"Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin" - String quartet's instruments burned in crematorium
"Show me slowly what I only know the limits of" - Only know limits of life physically so, he wants her to take him back to a happier time in their dance.
"We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above" - our love is joy and happiness, they will die so they are beneath it, yet they are happy and joyful before they die so they are above
"Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn" - wants her to take him back to an early time where they were young, happy and exuberant
"Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn" - encapsulate this moment of joy before our death, even though we know the inevitable will happen
The song title 'Dance Me to the End of Love' is explaining that something, anything that seems strong or eternal, even love, has an end. This relates directly to the song itself.
The song is about the string quartet who were forced to play beside the crematoriums in the death camps. The members of the quartet were going to be killed after in the crematorium but were allowed to play music. This playing of music is joy and happiness to the members of the quartet, the last piece of love and joy they will experience before their end.
The song lyrics themselves describe a man and woman who are dancing, yet the man is asking for the woman to dance him or help him to do many things. This couple are exactly like the string quartet. Both of these groups of people are going to be killed in the crematorium but, they can experience joy, whether it'd be playing music or dancing, for the last time until before their end. It shows that both these groups, predominantly the couple, are enjoying themselves through something they love and are forgetting all their troubles and concerns of their deaths. He is asking her to take them back to happier times and reflect on their lives and realise the happiness in their lives before their end.
Key lines "Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin" - String quartet's instruments burned in crematorium "Show me slowly what I only know the limits of" - Only know limits of life physically so, he wants her to take him back to a happier time in their dance. "We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above" - our love is joy and happiness, they will die so they are beneath it, yet they are happy and joyful before they die so they are above "Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn" - wants her to take him back to an early time where they were young, happy and exuberant "Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn" - encapsulate this moment of joy before our death, even though we know the inevitable will happen
Thank for posting that.
Thank for posting that.
How did you know that this song was about the string quartets at the crematoriums?
How did you know that this song was about the string quartets at the crematoriums?
Cohen himself explained the meaning of this song at an interview... youtu.be/d9CsYoWIK7w
Cohen himself explained the meaning of this song at an interview... youtu.be/d9CsYoWIK7w