The lyrics to "Take This Waltz" are based on Federico Garcia Lorca's poem "Little Viennese Waltz." Personnel: Leonard Cohen (vocals, arranger, various instruments); Anjani, Jennifer Warnes, Evelyine Hebey, Mayel Assouly, Elisabeth Valletti, Jude Johnstone (vocals); Jean-Philippe Rykiel, Jeff Fisher (arrangers, various instruments); Michel Robidoux (arranger, keyboards, drums); Roscoe Beck (arranger); Bob Stanley (guitar); Sneaky Pete Kleinow (steel guitar); John Bilezikjian (oud); Raffi Hakopian (violin); Richard Baudet (saxophone); Larry Cohen (keyboards); Peter Kisilenko (bass); Vinnie Colaiuta, Tom Brechtlein (drums); Lenny Castro (percussion). Producers: Leonard Cohen, Roscoe Beck, Michel Robidoux, Gean-Michel Reusser. Engineers include: Ian Terry, Roger Guerin, Francois Deschamps. Recorded at Studio Tempo and DMS Studios, Montreal, Canada; Rock Steady, Los Angeles, California; Studio Montmartre, Paris, France; Soundworks, New York, New York. Contemporary music's poet laureate, Leonard Cohen performs in a universe of pessimism, cynicism, spirituality and profound romance, all stirred with a dash of wit. On I'M YOUR MAN, his acid words burn deep to the soul. Cohen's poetry deals with powerful demons--"You loved me as a loser, but now you're worried that I just might win/You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline/How many nights I've prayed for this: to let my work begin." He is obsessed with religion--"Everybody knows what you've been through/From the bloody cross on top of calvary to the beach at Malibu"--and has a love/hate relationship with himself--"My friends are gone and my hair is grey/I ache in places where I used to play." Often, existential dilemmas rear their complex heads ("They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom"), but it is eroticism that truly drives Leonard Cohen--"I'd drive howl at your beauty like a dog in heat/I'd claw at your heart and I'd tear at your sheet/I'd say 'please, please, I'm your man.'" Oh yes, there's musi
