Video: "Dance Me to the End of Love"

Music: "Dance Me to the End of Love" (lyrics)
Music artist: Leonard Cohen (website)
Watch on YouTube

I'm sure there are a bunch of dance clips videos out there, but I just had to go ahead and add one more to the pile. After all, Jack and Jennifer do look ever-so-good groovin' to the muzak. Plus, I adore the song, but some say Cohen is an acquired taste, so you'll have to judge for yourself. I used the version that can be found on The Essential Leonard Cohen. I like it much better than the original album version, the back-up singers aren't so shrill (aren't shrill at all), and by the time the live version was recorded Cohen had aged so that his voice had taken on this exquisitely sexy gravelly quality, which works so well with that passionate violin. The only thing is that since it's a live version the audience was audible. I tried to snip them out but unfortunately a little bit of clapping remains. It also makes the end fade-out a little sudden, but what else could I do.

I also didn't go in precise chronological order with the clips, because some of them matched up with the lyrics too well to be used elsewhere, but roughly speaking, the older clips are chunked into the first part and the newer ones into the second (the last part is from all over the previous two).

I got help compiling a list of all the J/J dances from the great folks at Devoted to Deveraux, so props to them. In rough chronological order, we came up with:

1. 1990 At Wings, after Jennifer accepts Emilio's proposal ("farwell dance with your ex-boss"), to "When I Fall In Love"
2. 1990 In the Loretta cabin, Jack pretends to romance Jennifer to keep her out of trouble
3. 1990 On the Loretta, private tango lessons
4. 1990 At the NY embassy party, Jack literally tries to waltz Jenn away from Alamain
5. 1990 By the Alamain pool, white-jacketed Jack sets up a clandestine lunch
6. 1990 At the loft, Jack tries to reconnect with a candle-lit dinner while post-rape Jennifer remains tense ("Lets think about you and me")
7. 1991 On the rooftop, enjoying Jo's dinner as part of their post-train wreck reunion (Jack makes binocular eyes with his hands, Jenn's in an orange dress)
8. 1991 Wedding reception, first dance as a married couple
9. 1992 In her New York apartment as she stints on Calliope's show, a pregnant Jenn dances with a visiting Jack to "Wonderful Wonderful"
10. 1992 At Wings, they celebrate to "Wonderful Wonderful" upon learning that Jack won't die
11. 1993 Spring Fling dance, as chaperones (I think)
12. 1993 Old house living room, Jenn in a nightgown and sideburned Jack in a robe
13. 1993 Old house living room, tangoing after Carly's party before heading out to scream at planes
14. 2001 New house living room, dancing to the radio on a wary Jenn's birthday
15. 2001 Tuscany, at Jenn's birthday celebration with Maggie and Abby
16. 2003 Alice's birthday, a still un-reunited yet sharply suited Jack and Jenn sneak in a little sway
17. 2003 Wedding reception, as the cameras of their talk show roll credits
18. 2003 Bedroom, Jack's glowing ghost says goodbye amongst a montage to "Beautiful"
19. 2005 Living room, "All I Have" comes on the radio after Abby's birthday
20. 2005 Living room, partly seen through the window, after Jack putzes with a living will and "Stand By Me" plays
21. 2005 Dining room, all dolled up before Jack attempts suicide with his pills

In the unlikely eventuality that you want to follow along, the order in the video is: 1, 13, 11, 2, 6, 4, 5, 3, 12, 9, 10, 8, 17, 21, 15, 20, 18, 19, 16, 7, 4, 14, 3, 20, 8, 21, 1. In the even unlikelier eventuality that you're wondering which ones are my favorites: 1, 3, 8, 20, and 21 never fail to make me sigh. It pained me greatly, however, to be forced to include anything from 2001, much less three whole times, though I'll admit the dances with Abby were sufficiently adorable.

Now, there are two that are (knowingly) left off: In 1990, Jennifer has a fantasy of dancing with Jack just before Emilio joins her at the community center. I wasn't able to find this clip, after day upon day of looking for it, so I finally gave up. I use the excuse that it's just a fantasy, but really I wouldn't care if I could just find it. The other one is from 2005, where Jack is dressed up as a superhero. This was so left out on purpose (does anyone really need to relive the image of a red spandex-clad Jack?). Elsewise, did we miss one?

Edit: Oh, just found one I missed! There is a scene from 1990 where Jack and Jennifer are at some party, right after his premiere on the WATB news political crossfire segment, where Jennifer is trying to keep Carly's identity hush-hush and so two-steps Jack to keep him away from her. The quality of my clip of it is a bit washed out, but it's still a fun moment and I wish I had remembered it. Drat!

Overall I'm a bit iffy on this video compared to the last two, especially because it was a little difficult figuring out where the lighter funnier dances should go. I tried to place them strategically but I'm not sure how well I did. I did like book-ending it with the "ex-boss" dance at Wings, because the scene was so gosh-darn sad and utterly romantic, which fits the sound of the song to me. I don't know, maybe I'll have to give my mind a break from it before I can tell if it went well or not, after all I managed to take whole month to finish (that is, four days spread out over a month). Oh well, what do you think?