Cohen wrote around 80 draft verses for the tune, with one writing session at the Royalton Hotel in New York where he was reduced to sitting on the floor in his underwear, banging his head on the floor.

It marked not only his turn to a modern sound and use of synthesizers (particularly on the opening track), but also, after the harmonies and backing vocals from Jennifer Warnes on the previous Recent Songs (1979), an even greater contribution from Warnes, who is credited equally to Cohen as vocalist on all of the tracks. Incidentally, there`s nothing in the booklet to tell you who is playing and singing with Cohen on VP, which is a shame. he observes his own happily quirky rhyming of "do ya/-lujah" and "fool ya/-lujah" which adds so much to the brilliance of this great song. In 2004, jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux covered "Dance Me to the End of Love" on her album " Careless Love"; the version even became a hit in Brazil.

As a lyricist, Cohen has few, if any, peers--he has never been the relentless doom-monger of popular myth, but a wise, warm and frequently very funny chronicler of heartbreak. The album opens with one of his best compositions, and a signature song since he wrote it and one he tends to begin concerts with: Dance Me To The End Of Love.

Another alteration that Lissauer noticed was the remarkable change in Cohen's singing, with his voice having dropped about a minor third. This explains the slight strain in Cohen's singing on the track; changing the key on the Casio would have meant altering the drum pattern that Cohen wanted to use (The song, which would become Cohen's perennial show opener, is performed in a lower key live). I've Been a fan of this record ever since I heard "If it be your will" in the movie Pump on the Volume When I was a teenager. However I do find the superb track 'The night comes in' rather sad and uncomfortable listening [even more than 'The story of Isaac' on Songs from a room] - although music that's powerful enough to move you certainly can't be considered a bad thing. An hermetic, contemplative, wonderfully sung and played tour-de-force that will disarm and captivate the listener at first hearing.

In the interim, Lissauer had worked with Barbra Streisand, Manhattan Transfer, and had scored films. The Casio was a great discovery for Leonard because these machines allows you to put one finger down and have a whole band come back at you .

We tried to do that song with real drums and percussion but he liked the simplicity of the Casio and had become accustomed to it. I think this is one of the great Cohen albums, despite its admittedly slightly generic musical accompaniments and less feisty female singers than we`re used to.The song contains several biblical references, most notably evoking the stories of Samson and traitorous Delilah from the Book of Judges ("she cut your hair") as well as the adulterous King David and Bathsheba ("you saw her bathing on the roof, her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you").

It was the first time I could really see and intuitively feel what it was I was doing, making or creating in that enterprise. It also contains the bizarre country epic "The Captain", in which Cohen plays the part of a young officer being handed command of his unit by his dying superior. LC has sung this live and it can be found on the sublime Live In London, but nowhere has he sung it with such restrained grace as here. Various Positions contains some of Cohen's best--"Dance Me To The End Of Love", "Coming Back To You" and a shortened, accusatory version of "Hallelujah", later covered to such majestic effect by Jeff Buckley .

Finally, a song that comes into its own live as well as on VP, the quietly sincere prayer, If It Be Your Will.