Meaning of Dance Me to the End of Love

disna · Post by **disna** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 8:22 am

Does anyone know what this title means? Is it borrowed from another source, like some other titles are, for example, Who By Fire?

jurica · Post by **jurica** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 12:19 pm

i don't feel like researching right now, besides, why not do some on your own, therefore i'll only tell you what i already know from memory and in my own words:

this song deals with old all-jew theme: holocaust.

the end of love is war and death. the picture leonard had in mind (most of poets who also paint have a lot of symbols os visual nature in their poems - but i think leonard is almost an exception - his songs are often based more on reflections, at least i feel that way. then again: last years man - my personal favorite when it comes to lyrics is pure painter-poet!) was that of a young pair in a naci-camp, where they are made to sing and dance before they burn them to ashes. therefore: dance me to the panic... with the burning violin... etc.

sorry for no quotes or more direct answer about the title, but, as i said, i'm in no mood, nor have i time, for research.

JURICA

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 6:10 am

I'd really like to read that article where these comments are made, jurica. If you think of it, please come back and post it. It seems Jarkko would've already done it if it were here. Might it be on Marie's site? Just hearing the song in my mind from that perspective......what a difference, bittersweet angst.

David · Post by **David** » Wed Mar 26, 2003 8:16 am

I definitely remember reading where Leonard stated that he wrote this song thinking of the people who played music while in concentration camps.

I've always interpreted this as a paean to the indomitible human spirit -- capable of arcing upward towards beauty, even in the presence of unspeakable evil and horror.

Remember, also, that Leonard has often envisioned the act of love as a heroic act of resistance against oppression, and love itself as a riposte against despair -- in this context, then, to bravely and fully submit oneself to this sacramental act in a fallen world of dissolution and darkness might be analogous to playing music in a string quartet in a seemingly god-forsaken landscape peopled by monstrous oppressors -- the soul continues to proclaim "I Am!" even against all evidence, even against all hope.

Eve · Post by **Eve** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 3:15 am

no longer available

jurica · Post by **jurica** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 12:19 pm

for chr--- sake, of course you can't use it for your wedding song!

dance me to THE END of love ... not THE BEGINNING!

Eve · Post by **Eve** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 4:11 pm

no longer available

tom.d.stiller · Post by **tom.d.stiller** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 5:06 pm

Eve,
I agree with your interpretation. The "End of Love" is, as I see it, the End of Life, the end of the world, or as you prefered to say "the end of time"...

And I think it is a most exquisite choice for a Wedding Song:

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

Tom

Byron · Post by **Byron** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 6:18 pm

...........and foresaking all others until death do you part.

There, now does that answer the question?

Or are our vows taken before man and G-d, of such little significance these days, that they are forgotten so easily?

Life is a journey, and to be lucky enough to find the partner to dance with you, to the end of your journey, is a blessing for which I am truly grateful.

tom.d.stiller · Post by **tom.d.stiller** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 6:48 pm

Dear Byron,
for once you could have deleted your signature: "How many deaths will it take till he knows..?"

in the neighborhood of "until death do you part"?

with "the partner to dance with you, to the end of your journey" as the only possible reference for "he"?

I'm sure that was unintentional?

Tom

Byron · Post by **Byron** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 7:03 pm

tds, once again I am indebted to fellow 'losers' for pointing out the error of my ways. I have gone to my profile page and given it a damn good 'typing to.' Your comments are spot on and being a serial apologist, I apologise to one and all, especially the love of my life, for making a complete plonker of myself. It must be the Guinness. (See other thread)

George.Wright · Post by **George.Wright** » Sat Apr 26, 2003 2:19 am

Dance me to the end of love is a desire to return to the source, wherever that may be, the journey having been sullied by the planet.
The concentration horror (amongst the most absolute of man), could be replaced by the image of the band on the Titanic except that's water ( at least one of the four elements). And the stunning connection that music is indeed the food of love.................
Georges

jurica · Post by **jurica** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 1:56 pm

heh, i think fire, love and song have the same essence. they all are functions of time. they do not exist as a constant in time and space. that's why they are so naturally connected into one in this poem... they all have beginning and the end: like our lives, but unlike material we're all made of. it's this function that makes us what we are.