Leonard Cohen ~ Hallelujah ~ your interpretation?

GaNewChick

Songster
10 Years
Mar 12, 2009
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McDonough, Ga.
A beautiful song written by Leonard Cohen and performed by many wonderful artists. This is Jeff Buckley's lyrics ... also included is a beautiful scaled down version of the Canadian Tenors with a surprise appearance of Celine Dion.

Your thoughts?



Well, I heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
Well it goes like this: the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Well, your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Baby I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
You know, I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Well there was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show that to me, do you?
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there is a god above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
 
Love that song. I have JB's version along with KD Lang's, Il Divo, and I hate to admit it, Jason Castro's.

The song is painful, dark, and questions faith but what Cohen was thinking when he wrote it eludes me.

Gonna go listen to the Tenor's version..:
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I love KD Lang's as well. I've read the lyrics many times...and am myself, unsure as to the meaning. I also love the Il Divo ... what 3 or 4 different languages in that one?
 
I love Leonard Cohen the best, but KD Lang's Is great! I enjoyed the Canadian Tenors as well! But the one that surprised me the most was Bon Jovi's!

 
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Rufus Wainwright's version and the original run neck and neck for me.

I'm thinking it has a lot to do with the difficulties of love, and how sometimes you can love people that are really bad for you, but love is still beautiful, sometimes more so when it's tortured.

That's always the way I feel when I listen to it, anyway. Especially the original.
 
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That one is one of favorite versions too ... and of course he is easy on the eyes too. I heard Bon Jovi in an interview one time talking about the first time he heard Jeff Buckley singing this in a little mom and pop bar ~ and the effect it had on him.

Thanks for posting the link.
 
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