Another "Do I Have To Dance All Night" You Haven’t Heard (Probably)

When I posted The Best Leonard Cohen Song You’ve (Probably) Never Heard in July 2006, I wrote that even someone who was a Big Leonard Cohen Fan probably hadn’t heard Do I Have To Dance All Night,¹ AKA The Best Leonard Cohen Song You’ve (Probably) Never Heard, unless he or she were

1. A Big Leonard Cohen Fan who went to the right concerts in the late ’70s
   or
2. A Big Leonard Cohen Fan who bought his or her 45s in Central Europe
   or
3. A Big Leonard Cohen Fan who found a crappy MP3 of the song.²

While that list was an oversimplification, its premise – that only a few, atypical Leonard Cohen fans had heard the altogether dandy Do I Have To Dance All Night – was true.

The cause of this tragedy was no mystery.

Checking Cohen’s discography, one discovers that among all the Leonard Cohen albums, this song is only on – exactly none of them.³ Indeed, Do I Have To Dance All Night was and continues to be available only as a seven inch single that was originally recorded at a 1976 concert in Paris and pressed in Holland for sale in Central European countries.⁴

Bummer, eh?

Onward Ever, Eventually

Convinced at first that Do I Have To Dance All Night would inevitably end up on one or another of Cohen’s albums, I waited a couple of years before deciding to go with Plan B, which could be accurately summarized as throw money at it.⁵

I found a decent specimen of Do I Have To Dance All Night listed at a vintage recordings marketplace, exchanged a few emails with the seller, who lived just outside Paris, zapped a batch of electronic dollars from my credit card company to his bank where they were converted into an impressive number of electronic francs, and, after a ten day wait, took delivery of a genuine, unscratched seven-inch record of the much longed-for song.

After reassembling my ancient turntable, purchasing a stylus that would actually fit into a groove, and setting up a bit of software, I produced the MP3 of Do I Have To Dance All Nightthat I posted on this blog.

Nothing to it.
And, after all that money and hassle, what do I have to show for it?

I have the best Leonard Cohen song that
some of you (probably) still haven’t heard

Yep, I’ve adjusted the original claim a tad because I believe I can now legitimately add a fourth category to the list of folks who have heard this tune so that it now reads …

Even someone who is a Big Leonard Cohen Fan probably hasn’t heard Do I Have To Dance All Night, AKA The Best Leonard Cohen Song You’ve (Probably) Never Heard, unless he or she is

1. A Big Leonard Cohen Fan who went to the right concerts in the late ’70s
   or
2. A Big Leonard Cohen Fan who bought his or her 45 rpm records in Central Europe
   or
3. A Big Leonard Cohen Fan who found a crappy MP3 of the song
   or
4. A Big Leonard Cohen Fan who heard it at the Heck of a Guy Blog
   (or from one of those rip-off sites, the purveyors of which are no doubt doomed to Hell for all eternity, that have lifted the mp3 in question along with selected graphics and the copy from the Heck of a Guy post, claiming it as their own)⁶

It’s A Hit – Lots Of Hits

In fact, The Best Leonard Cohen Song You’ve (Probably) Never Heard and The TWO Best Leonard Cohen Songs You’ve Probably Never Heard, which also covers Do I Have To Dance All Night have been two of the most popular Heck of a Guy posts since their publication.

Even more compellingly, of the 875 posts (this morning) published at Heck of a Guy, those two Do I Have To Dance All Night entries, along with The Best Leonard Cohen-Anjani Duet You’ve Probably Never Heard and Another Leonard Cohen – Anjani Duet You’ve (Probably) Never Heard, have generated the most emails of appreciation from readers.

Recently, perhaps because of the interest engendered by the announcement of the Leonard Cohen World Tour, there has been a significant increase in the number of emails about this song and in the number of new links from other sites to the Do I Have To Dance All Night posts.

In celebration of this further expansion of the set of souls who have heard this favorite of mine, I am posting a second version.

Leonard Cohen’s Question: Do I Have To Dance All Night

Do I Have To Dance All Night – 2 was recorded at a 1980 Amsterdam concert and, of course, was never included on an album or pressed as a single. There are some changes in the lyrics⁷ and the tempo from the 1976 version I’ve previously posted, but the song is once again the final performance of the concert. I still favor the first version I heard (from the 45 rpm record) but that may well be an artifact of my own history with the song rather than the result of an unbiased musical assessment.

Those planning to attend one or more of the 2008 concerts should listen carefully to the introduction for an indication of how an audience can boost Leonard Cohen’s self-esteem.

New Version

Leonard Cohen - Do I Have To Dance All Night (1980 Amsterdam concert)

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Original Version

Leonard Cohen - Do I Have To Dance All Night (1976 Paris concert & record)

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1. Indeed, by 2006 only a Big – or at least Longtime – Leonard Cohen Fan would be likely to even know that a song named Do I Have To Dance All Night ever existed. [↩]
2. I fell into the third (i.e., the Crappy MP3) category. In my more haphazard music downloading days, I somehow came into possession of an extraordinarily impaired MP3 file of Do I Have To Dance All Night. Despite the pops, hiss, and skips, the more I played it, the more I liked it. [↩]
3. According to the Wikipedia, “Cohen wanted to include “Misty Blue”/”Do I Have to Dance All Night” as a free bonus single with the [Recent Songs] LP, but Columbia, his record company, rejected the idea.” [↩]
4. Do I Have To Dance All Night is Side A on the single; Side B features “The Butcher,” which is available on the Songs From a Room album. [↩]
5. This is the short version of the adventure that led to the posting of the original MP3 of Do I Have To Dance All Night. The complete story can be found at The Best Leonard Cohen Song You’ve (Probably) Never Heard [↩]
6. OK, there are a batch of other ways one could hear this song, especially if the one in question were a knowledgeable Cohen fan, but an exhaustive list would only confuse the issue [↩]
7. I note, for example, that the 1976 version opens with “I’m 41 …,” but singing the same song 4 years later, Cohen skips the age-declaring line. ‘Tis a pity – I would get off on hearing him start with “I’m 73, … .” [↩]