Take This Waltz

Leonard Cohen

About Take This Waltz

"Take This Waltz" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, originally released as part of the 1986 Federico García Lorca tribute album Poet in New York (Poeta en Nueva York) and as a single. The song was later included in Cohen's 1988 studio album I'm Your Man, in a slightly re-arranged version (with addition of violin and Jennifer Warnes's duet vocals, both absent from the 1986 version). The song's lyrics are a loose translation, into English, of the poem "Pequeño vals vienés" (Little Viennese Waltz) by the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca (one of Cohen's favorite poets). The poem was first published in Lorca's seminal book Poeta en Nueva York. The song reached number one in Spain in 1986. 


Year:
2008
6:00
124 
#1

 Become A Better Singer In Only 30 Days, With Easy Video Lessons!

Now in Vienna there are ten pretty women
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

I, I-I-I
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

I, I-I-I
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?

I, I-I-I
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

I, I-I-I
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)
(I, I-I-I)

 The easy, fast & fun way to learn how to sing: 30DaySinger.com


Leonard Cohen

Leonard Norman Cohen, (September 21, 1934- November 7, 2016) CC GOQ, was a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist. His work often explored religion, isolation, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships. Cohen was inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. In 2011 Cohen received Prince of Asturias Award for literature. more »

29 fans

Written by: Garcia Lorca, Leonard Cohen

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

Discuss the Take This Waltz Lyrics with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add these lyrics to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Take This Waltz Lyrics." Lyrics.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 30 Mar. 2023. <https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/14639885/Leonard+Cohen/Take+This+Waltz>.

    Missing lyrics by Leonard Cohen?

    Know any other songs by Leonard Cohen? Don't keep it to yourself!

    Watch the song video

    Take This Waltz

    7.2M
    23,774     925

    Browse Lyrics.com

    Quiz

    Are you a music master?

    »
    "Girl you are to me, all that a woman should be and I dedicate my life to you" are lyrics from what song by Atlantic Starr?
    • A. Secret Lovers
    • B. Always
    • C. Masterpiece
    • D. I'm in Love

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Get instant explanation for any lyrics that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Get instant explanation for any acronym or abbreviation that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Don't miss Leonard Cohen's

    Upcoming Events

    »
    Leonard Cohen tracks

    On Radio Right Now

    Loading...

    Powered by OnRad.io


    Think you know music? Test your MusicIQ here!