Dance Me to the End of Love - wikipedia Dance Me to the End of Love `` Dance Me to the End of Love '' Song by Leonard Cohen from the album Various Positions Released December 1984 Recorded June 1984 Genre Pop, Jazz Length 4 : 38 Label Columbia Songwriter ( s ) Leonard Cohen, David Campbell Producer ( s ) John Lissauer Various Positions track listing Dance Me to the End of Love ( 1 ) `` Coming Back to You '' ( 2 ) `` Dance Me to the End of Love '' is a 1984 song by Leonard Cohen. It was first performed by Cohen on his 1984 album Various Positions. It has been recorded by various artists and in 2009 was described as `` trembling on the brink of becoming a standard. '' Contents 1 Leonard Cohen original version 1.1 Charts 2 Madeleine Peyroux version 3 Other versions 4 Painting 5 References Leonard Cohen original version `` Dance Me to the End of Love '' is a 1984 song by Leonard Cohen and first recorded by him for his 1984 album Various Positions. The song follows a typical Greek `` Hasapiko '' dance path, most probably inspired by Cohen 's long lasting affiliation to the Greek island of Hydra. It has since been recorded by various artists, and has been described as `` trembling on the brink of becoming a standard ''. Although structured as a love song, `` Dance Me to the End Of Love '' was in fact inspired by the Holocaust. In an interview, Cohen said of the song : `` ' it 's curious how songs begin because the origin of the song, every song, has a kind of grain or seed that somebody hands you or the world hands you and that 's why the process is so mysterious about writing a song. But that came from just hearing or reading or knowing that in the death camps, beside the crematoria, in certain of the death camps, a string quartet was pressed into performance while this horror was going on, those were the people whose fate was this horror also. And they would be playing classical music while their fellow prisoners were being killed and burnt. So, that music, `` Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin, '' meaning the beauty there of being the consummation of life, the end of this existence and of the passionate element in that consummation. But, it is the same language that we use for surrender to the beloved, so that the song -- it 's not important that anybody knows the genesis of it, because if the language comes from that passionate resource, it will be able to embrace all passionate activity. '' In 1996, Welcome Books published the book Dance Me to the End of Love, as part of its `` Art & Poetry '' series, featureing the lyrics of the song alongside paintings by Henri Matisse. Charts Chart ( 2016 ) Peak position France ( SNEP ) 42 Portugal ( AFP ) 67 Spain ( PROMUSICAE ) 14 Switzerland ( Schweizer Hitparade ) 68 Madeleine Peyroux version `` Dance Me to the End of Love '' Single by Madeleine Peyroux from the album Careless Love Released 2005 ( 2005 ) Recorded Genre Jazz Length 3 : 54 Label Rounder Songwriter ( s ) Leonard Cohen Producer ( s ) Larry Klein Madeleine Peyroux singles chronology `` Do n't Wait Too Long '' ( 2004 ) `` Dance Me to the End of Love '' ( 2005 ) `` I 'm All Right '' ( 2006 ) `` Do n't Wait Too Long '' ( 2004 ) `` Dance Me to the End of Love '' ( 2005 ) `` I 'm All Right '' ( 2006 ) Jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux included a cover of `` Dance Me to the End of Love '' on her second solo album, Careless Love ( 2004 ). It was released as the second single for the album and has been a part of her concert set - list since then. Peyroux 's rendition was included on the fifth and last of the Queer as Folk soundtracks, as well as on the soundtrack of the 2009 computer game The Saboteur. Interviewing Peyroux in 2012, The Huffington Post described the song as a `` haunting 2004 rendition... undoubtedly one of modern music 's brightest highlights. An inspired, exquisite cover that besides drawing countless comparison 's to Billie Holiday 's singing, brought the free spirited musician to just artistic prominence. '' Other versions Kate Gibson -- mostly in English but partly in French ( on the soundtrack to the 1995 movie Strange Days ) Thalia Zedek -- on her 2001 album Been Here and Gone Elske de Wall -- solo with her own guitar, in the West Frisian language : `` Dunsje my de leafde ut '', and as a duet with Jan Dulles Yiannis Parios -- in Greek, under the name Mono Agapi ( Only love ) Jorge Drexler -- on his 2008 album Cara B Misstress Barbara -- on her 2009 album I 'm No Human Mark Seymour -- in the 2003 Australian television drama CrashBurn The Civil Wars -- on their albums Live at Eddie 's Attic ( 2009 ) and Barton Hollow ( 2011 ) Patricia O'Callaghan -- on her 2012 album Matador : The Songs of Leonard Cohen Klezmer Conservatory Band -- on their 2000 album Dance Me to the End of Love. Zorita -- on their 2012 album `` Amor Y Muerte '' Dustin Kensrue ( of Thrice ) -- on his 2016 live covers album Thoughts That Float on a Different Blood Painting The Scottish painter Jack Vettriano created a painting with the same title. He has also made two other paintings named after and inspired by Leonard Cohen works : one based on Cohen 's novel Beautiful Losers and the other inspired by his song `` Bird on the Wire ''. When asked on Desert Island Discs, Vettriano mentioned Leonard Cohen 's album I 'm Your Man as one of his must - have records. References Jump up ^ Dance Me To The End Of Love Archived 2014 - 02 - 20 at Archive.is, Mark Steyn, 2009 Jump up ^ ( 1 ) Music of the Ghettos and Camps, A Teacher 's Guide to the Holocaust, USF.edu Jump up ^ `` Le Top de la semaine : Top Singles Téléchargés -- SNEP ( Week 46, 2016 ) '' ( in French ). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 19 November 2016. Jump up ^ `` Portuguesecharts.com -- Leonard Cohen -- Dance Me to the End of Love ''. AFP Top 100 Singles. Retrieved 30 November 2016. Jump up ^ `` Spanishcharts.com -- Leonard Cohen -- Dance Me to the End of Love '' Canciones Top 50. Retrieved 29 November 2016. Jump up ^ `` Swisscharts.com -- Leonard Cohen -- Dance Me to the End of Love ''. Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 21 November 2016. Jump up ^ `` Dance Me to the End of Love -- Q& With Jazz Singer Madeleine Peyroux ''. The Huffington Post UK. Retrieved 4 December 2014. Jump up ^ `` Dunsje my de leafde ut -- Elske de Wall ''. YouTube. 22 January 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2016. Jump up ^ `` Elske deWall en Jan Dulles - Dunsje mei de leafde ut ''. YouTube. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2016. Jump up ^ AllMusic Review by Matt Fink ( 18 July 2000 ). `` Dance Me to the End of Love -- Klezmer Conservatory Band Songs, Reviews, Credits ''. AllMusic. Retrieved 5 March 2016. Jump up ^ ( 2 ) Desert Island Discs Leonard Cohen Studio albums Songs of Leonard Cohen Songs from a Room Songs of Love and Hate New Skin for the Old Ceremony Death of a Ladies ' Man Recent Songs Various Positions I 'm Your Man The Future Ten New Songs Dear Heather Old Ideas Popular Problems You Want It Darker Live albums Live Songs Cohen Live Field Commander Cohen : Tour of 1979 Live in London Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 Songs from the Road Live in Dublin Ca n't Forget : A Souvenir of the Grand Tour Compilations The Best of Leonard Cohen So Long, Marianne More Best of Leonard Cohen The Essential Leonard Cohen Tribute albums Famous Blue Raincoat I 'm Your Fan Tower of Song Leonard Cohen : I 'm Your Man Judy Collins Sings Leonard Cohen : Democracy The Songs of Leonard Cohen Covered Concert tours The Smokey Life Tour Various Positions Tour I 'm Your Man Tour The Future World Tour Leonard Cohen Tour 2008 -- 2010 Old Ideas World Tour Songs `` Ai n't No Cure for Love '' `` Avalanche '' `` Bird on the Wire '' `` Dance Me to the End of Love '' `` Everybody Knows '' `` Famous Blue Raincoat '' `` First We Take Manhattan '' `` The Gypsy 's Wife '' `` Hallelujah '' `` Hey, That 's No Way to Say Goodbye '' `` I 'm Your Man '' `` In My Secret Life '' `` Joan of Arc '' `` The Partisan '' `` So Long, Marianne '' `` Suzanne '' `` Take This Waltz '' `` You Want It Darker '' Books Let Us Compare Mythologies The Spice - Box of Earth The Favourite Game Flowers for Hitler Beautiful Losers Selected Poems 1956 - 1968 Stranger Music Book of Longing Related Awards and nominations Discography Leonard Cohen : I 'm Your Man Sharon Robinson Jennifer Warnes Anjani Thomas Perla Batalla Julie Christensen Marianne Ihlen Blue Alert Bob Johnston I Am a Hotel Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen The Holy or the Broken Book Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dance_Me_to_the_End_of_Love&oldid=798811667 '' Categories : 1984 songs Leonard Cohen songs Columbia Records singles Songs written by Leonard Cohen Songs about dancing Music videos directed by Mark Pellington Hidden categories : Webarchive template archiveis links CS1 French - language sources ( fr ) Music infoboxes with deprecated parameters Articles with hAudio microformats All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from November 2016 Articles with unsourced statements from August 2017 Singlechart usages for Portugal Singlechart usages for Spain Singlechart usages for Switzerland Articles with unsourced statements from March 2016 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Brezhoneg Eesti Español فارسی Română Simple English Edit links This page was last edited on 3 September 2017, at 23 : 38. About Wikipedia

Question: who wrote dance me to the end of love
Answer: Leonard Cohen