"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Take This Waltz" by Leonard Cohen. Modest rise and fall. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: intimate, melancholy, nostalgic. Visual style: 1980s editorial aesthetic, neon accents against moody ground. Painterly, grainy film texture, muted palette with strategic accent colors. The composition should read left-to-right like a timeline — calm on one side, intensifying toward the other. Strictly no faces, no text, no logos, no literal objects, no band imagery. Pure color-field abstraction with emotional weight. 16:9 editorial format."
Easy, low-key calm, right in the middle of 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
180
BPM
Take This Waltz by Leonard Cohen is 180 BPM — Presto (very fast).
Half-time 90 BPM · Double-time 360 BPM · released 1988
Fan image for "Take This Waltz"
An abstract illustration of what this song feels like. Each image is built from a prompt — the text description fed to the image generator. Listeners submit their own prompts, upvote the ones that fit best, and the top-voted prompt drives the next regeneration. After 100 image votes, we make a new picture.
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Find its sonic twinHidden gems like itDial itSongs like thisAll toolsLeonard Cohen by the Numbers: The Catalog, Meas…
Song DNA
Notes: Leonard Cohen's gravelly, spoken-sung delivery creates an intimate, melancholic atmosphere with subtle instrumentation that builds gently without harsh edges. The waltz rhythm provides a steady, swaying pulse ideal for sensory ease.
Misophonia Triggers
Recommended for: deep listening meltdown recovery relaxation
A poetic adaptation of Federico García Lorca's 'Pequeño vals vienés,' featuring Cohen's earthy baritone over a mid-tempo waltz with accordion and strings evoking Vienna's haunted romance.
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Hear it the way it was made
The right gear changes everything.
Moods: intimate, melancholy, nostalgic
Traditions: folk, waltzes
Pacing Guide
"Take This Waltz" runs at 180 BPM — fast run territory.
For runners: match cadence to BPM and the song does half the work. Texture stays layered; vocals sit soft. Nothing in the arrangement asks for your attention mid-stride. Good as a steady-state track; less useful for interval work where you want explicit tempo shifts.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 5/10 is within the normal pop-mix band. There is variation between verse and chorus, but it's the kind of variation most listeners encounter routinely.
Sudden changes: mild. There are one or two transitions worth knowing about, though they're musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
Texture is layered — a full arrangement with clear separation between parts.
Predictability is high — the song telegraphs what it will do next. A sensory-sensitive listener can usually guess where it's going without close attention.
Vocal style: soft vocals.
Where this sits in Leonard Cohen's catalog
We have 51 songs from Leonard Cohen in the library. Of those, 32 are rated Safe, 18 Moderate, and 1 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 5/10 sits above the artist average of 4.3, making it the #14 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from I'm Your Man
We have 6 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans moderate in sensory profile.
- Tower of Song — safe DR 3
- Ain't No Cure for Love — moderate DR 7
- I'm Your Man — safe DR 4
- Everybody Knows — moderate DR 4
- First We Take Manhattan — moderate DR 5
1988 context
Released in 1988. We have 212 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.4/10. This track is quieter / less dynamic than the year average. Explore more from the 1980s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Guides that may help
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much — A guide for sensory-sensitive…
How fast is "Take This Waltz"?
180 BPM — Extreme (sprint intervals / hardcore)
For running
Sprint / interval pace. Too fast to sustain; best for short bursts.
For workouts
Sprint sets, fast-twitch training, max-effort bursts.
For daily life
Active tasks, getting pumped up, party, anything high-energy.
Browse more songs at 180 BPM.
When "Take This Waltz" works, and when it doesn't
Use-case verdicts computed from the song's tempo, dynamics, and sensory profile.
~
Focus / studying
Maybe — fine for routine work, but the mid-song changes may pull attention during deep focus.
✓
Running / workout
Yes — 180 BPM sits squarely in the running / cardio band. Matches natural stride cadence.
✗
Sleep / winding down
No — contains elements that will keep an awake nervous system engaged.
✓
Driving / road trip
Yes — predictable enough for safe driving attention, interesting enough to stay engaged.
✓
Cooking / dinner background
Yes — sits in the background without demanding attention.
✓
Emotional release / catharsis
Yes — this is a song for actively feeling what you came to feel, not for background.
Related reading
Editorial guides that cover this song's use cases, moods, or artist.
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
Every Leonard Cohen album, ranked by gravity
All 14 Leonard Cohen studio albums ranked by how heavy they make the room — from the crushing weight of Songs of Love and Hate to the floati…
Songs with the same gut-punch as 'Hurt' by Johnny Cash
Eight tracks that share the architecture of Johnny Cash's 'Hurt' — spare, patient, devastating by subtraction. From Leonard Cohen to Bon Ive…
Why this rating
We rate this song Moderate because it falls between our Safe and Intense thresholds on at least one dimension. Moderate is the default for most well-produced music that has real arc but no surprise elements. Full rubric: methodology.
This song in the Music Studio
40/100 intensity
See how “Take This Waltz” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
Listen on
Spotify and YouTube links go direct to the track when we have the ID; otherwise they search for it. Embed this sensory profile on your site →
Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-13. Reviewed by the Music I Want editorial team against the documented methodology.
Think this rating is wrong? Contact the editor — every message is read and ratings get revised.
By the numbers: how this song compares
Computed from this song’s place among the 19,209 songs we’ve measured.
Where it sits in 19,000 songs
On our 19k-song scale this lands in the middle band — more energetic than 34% of songs, calmer than the other 66%. Its intensity reading of 40/100 comes from a dynamic range of 5/10, layered texture, mild shifts, and soft vocals. It shares this stretch of the spectrum with thousands of other tracks, so the finer fingerprint below is what really separates it.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is a fast, driving tempo: more extreme on that axis than 98% of everything we've measured. At the far opposite end of the library sit the songs built on near-total stillness — steady volume, no surprises, a slow and unhurried pulse — the kind of track this one is the counterpoint to.
Feels almost identical to
Three — Massive Attack · 91%Ask — The Smiths · 92%Train in Vain (Stand by Me) — The Clash · 89%Isi — Neu! · 89%
Closest matches by feel across all 19,209 measured songs — not by genre or artist, by how they actually move.
Dial the feeling up or down
Same feeling, calmer: At Night — The Cure
What it’s good for
Sleep6/10
Focus10/10
Workout2/10
Dinner8/10
Party / hype5/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
1988 in context
The 212 songs we’ve measured from 1988 average a dynamic range of 6.4/10. At 5/10, this track is gentler and steadier than its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Waltz of the Flowers — Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyToy Heart — Bill Monroe & his Blue Grass BoysMerry-Go-Round of Life — Joe Hisaishi
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity40
Dynamics44
Tempo78
Surprise25
Density33
Predictability0
Vocal force25
Trigger load13
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "Take This Waltz"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "Take This Waltz" by Leonard Cohen?
"Take This Waltz" by Leonard Cohen has a tempo of 180 BPM (Presto (very fast)). At half-time that is 90 BPM, and at double-time 360 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "Take This Waltz" by Leonard Cohen?
"Take This Waltz" by Leonard Cohen rates as Moderate intensity. Dynamic range 5/10, mild sudden changes, layered texture. Moderate is the default for well-produced music with real arc but no surprise elements.
How loud is "Take This Waltz" — what is its dynamic range?
"Take This Waltz" has a dynamic range of 5/10. Within normal pop-mix variation. Movement between verse and chorus but nothing dramatic.
Does "Take This Waltz" have sudden or surprising changes?
"Take This Waltz" has mild sudden changes — one or two transitions worth knowing about, but they are musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
What is "Take This Waltz" best for?
In our library "Take This Waltz" is recommended for: deep listening, meltdown recovery, relaxation. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "Take This Waltz" released?
"Take This Waltz" is from 1988, on the album "I'm Your Man". It appears in our 1980s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "Take This Waltz"?
We tag "Take This Waltz" as intimate, melancholy, nostalgic. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "Take This Waltz"?
The vocal style is soft vocals.
Is "Take This Waltz" good for running?
Yes — at 180 BPM it sits in the running-cadence band (120-180 BPM). Match your stride to the beat and it keeps pace with most recreational runners.
Is "Take This Waltz" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (5/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "Take This Waltz" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Contains transitions that will wake you up.
Should I listen to "Take This Waltz"?
"Take This Waltz" is Moderate intensity — fine for most listeners, but with enough dynamic activity that it works best as active listening rather than background.
Songs with the same DNA
layered texture, similar intensity — across any genre or era.
Safer alternatives with a similar feel
These songs share similar moods but with a gentler sensory profile.
What this song means to people
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Where to next?
You know how this one feels — now go find the next one.