Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Songs From Poems: Take This Waltz





























¡Ay, ay, ay, ay! Leonard Cohen´s admiration for Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca must have been huge, as he named his daughter Lorca Cohen in honour of the legendary Spanish poet. And later, Montreal's finest personally and expertly translated Lorca's poem Pequeño Vals Vienés as Take This Waltz, to be included on his surprisingly poppy '88 album I'm Your Man. I'm pretty sure that Lorca, whose death at the hands of nationalist militia in the Spanish Civil War is still shrouded in mystery, would have been proud.

"This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz,
With its very own breath of brandy and death,
Dragging its tail in the sea..."

As a bonus, here´s Cohen´s fine interpretation from Live In London (2008), complete with band introductions.


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