Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah Meaning
Song Released: 1984
Covered By: Rufus Wainwright (2007), Jordan Smith (2015), Pentatonix (2016)
Hallelujah Lyrics
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I beg to differ about the "sex act as disgraceful". Something that God created Himself cannot be disgraceful. What's disgraceful is how mankind took something that is as intimately sweet, depth and breadth of spiritual beings as we are. Is actually representation of God's Holy Spirit that moves within us, filling us, rejoicing and singing in THE most intimate act of Worship of God Himself.
Mankind has made sex a commonplace and removed the "soul" from intercourse and made it "fun" like its going to an amusement park.
This song is about those of us who are hungry for something, but nothing satisfies that longing in our souls. So we try to feed that need with all those things that involve all five senses. Only to find that we're still hungry. But we don't want just another religious gimmic because that is going to come with all the rules, do's and don'ts; and we WANT something that is real, never changes because it's true blue and spontaneous every time. It satiates our longings, feeds our desires, surrounds us in peace....
THAT, my friend, is how my walk with God is like. Just as we hunger and reach for our mates to sate those natural and spiritual needs that GOD made in us. I go back into the privacy of my home, and get closed off with God. Worship Him and praise Him, and love on HIM. I make Jesus my Lover and God my Friend.
Sounds silly? Then explain to me how in my younger years I went from bar to bar looking for someone to fit in my "God-shaped Hole", and found none who could satisfy me where I would awaken the next morning with no peace. "Will he ever call me again?"
But when I started spending a weekend with God, I knew this was real, satisfying, peaceful, and HE'S always near to hear my call, when I spent my first New Year's Eve party on my living room floor in worship of the God of All Creation.
Of course, I'm human, I would get lonely feelings at times, especially when I first started to spend time with God. So I asked Him to talk this gift called sex and fill my longings. And HE did, with Himself.
If it is to be, I will find someone to have and hold on this earth too. And that too, will be a Gift from God.
This song, Hallelujah is about all the things that man desires, all the rules to be saved, it comes down to those who have really been broken, and not out of a religious bunk to make me more acceptable to God. I'm going to listen to those who will stand there and sing hallelujah to God, because they know what their old lives were truly saved from, relief from fear, disgrace, shame, grief. I'm gonna listen to those who have been to hell ...and came back from it. Not those who think it's how christianized they appear on the outside that make them the best testimony of the works from their "own" hands. -
The song uses biblical metaphors to dissect a recently failed relationship that the singer is desperate to find some iota of redemption in, because if he doesn't he is merely left with the pain and loss.
The first 2 verses are sung to himself. The secret chord refers to David playing his harp for King Saul, so beautifully that David cured Saul's chronic long-term illness. The singer laments he does not know this chord that can bring instant joy and happiness, otherwise he would use it on his broken self. The "don't care for music" line is pure irony. A musician is singing to his broken self, so broken that he no longer cares for the one passion that usually brings him happiness - his music.
The next verse is exposition. The bath and the moonlight is another King David reference, David seeing Bathsheba bathing in the moonlight, falling instantly in love, a king "overthrown" by love, just like the singer fell instantly upon seeing this unnamed woman. Beauty can be immensely powerful, as I’m sure we all know. This reference also tells us the inherent danger of this relationship. David discovers that Bathsheba is married to one of his best generals, Uriah. He orders Uriah into a dangerous battle, hoping he’ll be killed, which he is, and proceeds to marry Bathsheba for himself. He essentially commits murder. The verse goes on to talk about how this woman changes his life, he is “tied to a chair” (killing his art via bounded domesticity), “cutting his hair” (another biblical reference, Samson and Delilah, destroying the singer’s creative strength). But it’s not all destruction. She is able to “draw alleluia” from his lips, meaning the ecstasy (physical and mental) that come from being head over heels in love. She gave him a happiness he had never known, blinding him to the destruction she was also causing.
Starting with the third verse the singer’s focus turns to her, and know he’s speaking directly to her. The first two verses explained his current situation, and know he wants to know why it all happened. He tells her he’s familiar with loneliness, since that was his experience before he met her, but it’s a broken loneliness now, and he has no idea how to function any longer. He understands that love can bring unrivaled joy, but also permanent pain. “Cold and broken alleluia” is wonderful phrasing. Alleluia means “praise” in Hebrew, but over time it has become synonymous with joy and happiness. This relationship has left him with a broken heart. The heart, the organ of life, metaphorical organ of emotion and love, the biological source of human happiness, is now cold and broken.
The fourth line is all about sex, and how great it was once, frigid at the end, and obviously non-existent now. But damn it was really good once. Please note that by really good I don’t mean technique or specific physical acts, it’s the euphoria that comes (pun intended) when you have sex with the person you truly love. The physical pleasure is magnetized times 1,000 when you’re lucky enough to have this happen to you. And the singer knows this. And tells us.
The last verse is a capitulation. The “God above” line means maybe the world is good, but he clearly doesn’t see it that way now, and maybe never will again. He then jokingly states that the only thing he learned about love from this relationship is make sure that next time, you break her heart first before she breaks yours (“how to shoot at someone who outdrew you”). In the final lines the singer realizes that there are no answers as to why and how everything happened. All he’s left with, as he stated earlier, is a “cold and broken” alleluia. In the end, he really is left with pain and loss.
However, this pain and loss inspires him to create this beautiful song, meaning his art is now coming back to him, and with that will come the ability to love and enjoy life again. Alleluia (joy and happiness), will eventually return to him too. -
First verse telling the story about how David used to praise the Lord with Halelujah. referring to the time before the fall? talks about the bible (The Word)?
Second verse describes the temptation: "Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you"
David gave in to temptation. Referring to the fall?
"She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah"
Temptation got him and was his downfall.
Samson lost his strength giving in to manipulation. Also referring to the cunningness of evil?
"Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you."
Referring to God having walked among us, He was before creation?
"Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah"
Our misunderstanding of love?
Not a victory but humbleness?
"There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?"
God saying:" You don't pray to me anymore"?
"And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah"
Jesus saying: "Remember how I sent my spirit"?
"Maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
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"
"Maybe" meaning we're not sure anymore? Is this us speaking?
Order of the song:
The Word
God
Jesus
Spirit -
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
The chord that David played on the harp calmed King Saul (not God) who was plagued by an evil spirit. Since evil spirits were generally regarded at that time as having been sent by God, David’s success in keeping the evil spirit from troubling Saul might be interpreted as having pleased God, too. But according to scripture, David was also a man “after God’s own heart” – so these lines can be regarded as just a kind of poetic conflation of two images – David the musician mystically calming the Lord (the king) and David the adventurous and courageous, passionate leader was something of a “holy bad boy” with music and poetry in his soul whom God really liked (compared to people who were concerned more with purity and keeping their noses clean than with living life). Cohen’s lyrics are a lot like Paul Simon’s – of like Don McLean’s “American Pie” lyrics -- evocative, poetic, they carry great meaning if you don’t analyze them too literally but just catch the feeling of the meaning, so to speak.
But you don't really care for music, do you?
Is he speaking to his lover? To the reader? Maybe just to anyone who doesn’t “get” all the music/poetic references. For those who prefer linear logical reasoning to the deeper mysteries of life that can only be expressed in music (and that music puts us in touch with, the poet proceeds to explain the powerful, mysterious chord that pleased the Lord:
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
Great narratives involve problems and, in the case of inspiring narratives, resolutions to those problems. No problem, no suspense, no drama = no interest. No hunger, no fulfillment. The minor tease, the major orgasm. The minor fall precedes the major lift – that’s what the sequence of the fourth and fifth accomplish musically.
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
What has baffled him? And if he’s baffled/confused then why is he composing Hallelujah? That’s what the whole poem is about. The king has not figured it all out. He has taken risks in loving and living fully rather than playing it safe, but rather than a “Rocky” happy ending – or any happy ending, he has crashed and burned. He has no neat philosophy that explains everything; he is confused; but even in his confusion, life still elicits from him a Hallelujah.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
Here he speaks not of the king but to the king – and to everyone who has shared the king’s experience. Quite possibly he’s speaking to himself.
In what sense does “strong faith” still “need proof”. What elements of the David-Bathsheba story are illuminating here? He trongly believed in himself, was confident of his ability, but needed the confirmation that only (?!) the love (or whatever) of a woman could provide. However, he is not confirmed and strengthened in the relationship. He is weakened.
She tied you To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
“Tied to a kitchen chair” – nothing kinky here; he’s just domesticated. "Broken throne" evokes notions, e.g., of the ruler becoming the subject, or of the royal king abdicating the throne for his commoner wife, or of the scandal of an affair causing people to reject a ruler. “She cut our hair” – all of sudden amidst the imagery of David & Bathsheba, he tosses in a reference to Samson & Delilah, who wormed her way into Samson’s heart via his need for love. To one steeped in the biblical stories, the leap from one story to the other is not a quantum leap at all but an obvious and effortless one.
All the while you’re being brought down, she’s drawing an Hallelujah from your lips – not just from the sex but from the transcendent experience of being loved by someone who, in giving herself to you completely, causes you to lower your guard, lose your strength and be defeated. Even if that’s not her aim, it’s what happens. To love is to lower your guard. But all the while this is happening, you are exclaiming “Hallelujah” because it’s wonderful.
Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
He’s speaking to her from his room in the Heartbreak Hotel. He’s been cold and alone before. Now he’s there again. “I’ve looked at life from both sides now …” I’ve seen your flag flying victoriously and gloriously from the marble Arc de Triomphe, [but] Love is not a victory march. It’s a hallelujah, for sure, but a cold and broken one.
There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
Is he referring to his lover withholding sex from him in a relationship gone bad? Or to her withholding her self from him? Or is he speaking to the God who in the poet’s past “heavenly” days used to give him confident revelations of what was going on in life but now has left him to his confusion? Maybe all of the above at once. That's poetry for you.\
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
The main metaphor here seems obviously sexual, but he’s not speaking just of sex. The ecstasy of orgasm is itself a reference to the whole period of time when one is in love. Not just in bed, but in every moment, life is wonderful: “every breath we draw is Hallelujah”. It is not just a coincidence that the reference to “moving in you” also evokes the biblical image of “living and moving and having our being in God”.
You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
"Are you gigging me for yelling “God!” at the moment of ecstasy – or, more generally, for bringing religious imagery into a poem that has such heavy romantic and sexual content? Well, I don’t know for sure what “God” means – I’m not exactly a believer and there was no intent to say anything about God. But if I did, so what? “There’s a blaze of light in every word.” (Cf. the lyrics from another of Cohen’s songs: “There is a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in.”) The hallelujah inspired by an orgasm, the praise inspired by the wonder of a glorious romance (even if it has ended badly), the doxology inspired by contemplation of God – there is a blaze of light in every one of these utterances. They are all transcendent experiences. One shouldn’t make too much of some of them (some are just temporary and not the main thing in life) but one shouldn’t turn one’s back on the glorious joy that any of them bring.
I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
The finale: the baffled king doesn’t claim any great accomplishments. He not only says simply, “I did my best” but acknowledges that “it wasn’t much.” Nor does he claim, humbly or otherwise, to have discovered The Answer and to have become an “enlightened king” who is now at peace. He’s never felt the Deep Inner Peace that we associate with the saints who have grasped The Meaning of Life. Never having felt that, he couldn’t share it; so he did the best he could do: touch others by speaking truthfully (about his bafflement and failures, for instances) with no aim of fooling anyone by pretending to know more than he did, but with a real desire to help as much as a baffled king can. You can love the truth and pursue it and speak it with integrity and try to encourage others to do likewise, and offer your own experience for whatever value it may be. It may not make much difference – in fact, for all your honesty and good intentions, it may “all go wrong”, like a great but tragic romance, and you may find yourself in the end standing amidst the ruins reflecting with Bobby Burns on how “the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley,/ An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,/ For promis'd joy!”
Nonetheless, remembering the transcendent moments of joy and sensing the glory of it all,
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah -
"It explains that many kinds of hallelujahs do exist, and all the perfect and broken hallelujahs have equal value."
20 fact of Cohen's Hallelujah from The Telegraph
1 Hallelujah was first released in 1984 on Leonard Cohen's album, Various Positions.
2 Cohen once told Bob Dylan that it took him two years to write the song.
3 Dylan himself has sung it live, and there are bootleg versions in circulation of his performance. It has also been sung by Bono and Bon Jovi.
4 More than 100 versions of the song have been recorded.
5 The best known is by Jeff Buckley, whose unadorned version was on his 1994 Grace album.
6 Cohen has recorded two versions – the second one appeared on a live album in 1988 – with very different endings; one upbeat, one dark.
7 Buckley's version was used in the soundtrack to the American TV series, The OC.
8 Other TV shows to have used the song include The West Wing, ER, Scrubs, and Holby City.
9 The full version of the song has 15 verses.
10 Cohen, a notorious perfectionist, is said to have originally written 80 verses.
11 Cohen is set to earn £1 million in royalties from sales of singles by X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke.
12 Burke's version is the fastest selling download single in history.
13 Former Velvet Underground member John Cale's version was used in the film Shrek.
14 The Shrek soundtrack album featured a version by Rufus Wainwright, who also sang it in the Leonard Cohen tribute film, I'm Your Man.
15 Cohen was once asked why the song is so popular. "It's got a good chorus," he replied.
16 It has become a mainstay of live shows by Cohen's fellow Canadian singer-songwriter, kd lang.
17 The English singer and songwriter Kathryn Williams once introduced her version of Hallelujah in a live show by saying, "I really, really, really want to shag Leonard Cohen."
18 The song is broadcast at 2am every Saturday night by the Israeli defence force's radio channel.
19 Hallelujah is a Hebrew word, meaning "praise Yah".
20 Cohen has said of the song's meaning: "It explains that many kinds of hallelujahs do exist, and all the perfect and broken hallelujahs have equal value." -
For the most part, I think we should ask Leonard Cohen what Hallelujah means. This said, I have my a few of my own thoughts about this haunting song. I think part of it is, obviously, a passing comment on powerful men brought to near ruin when they attempt to posses a beauty (women) that is not theirs to have. The more I listen to Hallelujah, the more I hear. I really feel the weight of verse four. If you imagine this verse as God talking to man, the sexual overtones completely disappear. It is God saying: you know, I used to walk with you here on Earth. You used to tell me everything that You'd tell going on down here. Every word out of your mouth was Hallelujah, and the Holy Spirit walked with us too. Now, you don't talk to me so much anymore. You don't tell me what's going on. Whether Leonard Cohen meant it this way or not, I'm pretty sure God spoke to him through this song.
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This is not deep...but lovely. It is simply about love, intimacy, our response to intimacy (hallelujah), and finally our jaded feeling against love once we have been hurt by it(the broken hallelujah).
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I think this song is about love. The bible references are just metaphors replacing the actual meaning which is ( in my opinion ) about cold and lustily love , love that only leaves you broken. In the first verse his recalling the story of david. he's trying to say that this girl he fell in love with never cared about love but just 'physical love' and he's trying to reason with her(it goes like this , the 4th, the 5th.....) The miner fall and the major lift are music notes saying that love always has up's and down's and he's 'baffled' by her.
The next verse says that david saw Bathsheba on the roof means desire and lust. He saw this women and desired her so much that she now had complete power over him , the way Delia had over Samson. This woman stole his strength , again samson and delia. The third verse refers to him saying that before he met her , he didn't know what love was and now that he does , he realizes love is cold , it's not something to be proud of , it's a ' cold and broken hallelujah.
The fourth verse continues into their relationship there was once a time when she told him everything but now she's just not bothered anymore. He recalls to when their love was strong and powerful and ' every breath they drew was hallelujah'
In the fifth verse he says she was angry at him ( lik he took her name in vain or something ) finally , in the last verse he speaks about how love has taught him nothing but to hurt someone before they hurt you and that love is not someone who's ' seen the light ' It's just cold and broken. -
Leonard Cohen - Anthem
The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.
Ah the wars they will
be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
bought and sold
and bought again
the dove is never free.
The birds are singing because they are crying. They are mourning their friend, a broken dove. The birds are urging the listeners to "start again" at the "break of day" and not dwell in the past or worry about tomorrow. Wars and strategic alliances will forever rage in order to achieve specific goals. "The holy dove" was a fragile creature and the warmongers stole her innocence by throwing her into a media war. The dove was caught in the crossfire. Years ago, unbeknownst to her, she was sold from "her" family/"homeland" and bought by a media conglomerate. She isn't sure anymore who is trying to sell her off (the family or the media group), as it seems complicated because they are a syndicated venture. She wonders if they are worried or at all ashamed that they tried to destroy her; if they wish it hadn't happened or if they thought it was stupendous fun. Maybe Leonard is saying that the broken dove will be caught again, and bought and sold again, as it is a cycle that needs to be complete in order for Truth to be revealed. Once you have been bought and sold behind your back like a slave, you never feel "free" of/from the cost. For years Loved ones have reduced her to a business deal not of her own volition and it makes her feel "unfree". When the warmongers finally decide to trade the dove once again, she thinks they should invite her to the table. Even though she will feel reduced to a commodity, at least she will be able to see who is selling her and at what cost. She will suppress the hurt she feels inside & express gratitude for the respect they are showing her by finally selling her in front of her face. She secretly wishes someone she Loves will be nearby when she is traded again in the hope that her home is in his heart. It is there she has felt genuine warmth and Love.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
Ring the bells for justice. Leonard is singing, "Don't try to figure out how to make this entire ordeal 'go away', just accept responsibility and realize that mistakes were made". By cracking & breaking her spirit, the warmongers harmed themselves in the process. To some degree everyone who participated should feel a wee bit affected by the war that was created and the damage done. What cracks us as humans? Death? Addiction? War? Persecution? Accusations of Delusions? Betrayal of Biblical Proportions? Ernest Hemingway said, "The world breaks everyone, but afterwards many are made stronger in the broken places."
(On a personal note: I remember a few days after getting out of treatment, I was cleaning my room. My husband at the time had left a small piece of paper on his dresser which read, "All of Sara's friends thinks she's 'cracked' ". The moment I read it, it hurt me a lot. After hearing Leonard's song, I now feel flattered.) "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." Leonard is singing about the holy dove and how cracked she is. I don't think he means she is a dove on crack or that she is an asscrack. She is broken.
We asked for signs
the signs were sent:
the birth betrayed
the marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
of every government --
signs for all to see.
Leonard is singing about a birth of a"baby" meaning hope. He has been "pregnant" with hope and has carried the baby to its full seven year gestation term and awaits labour. He is afraid that while he slept, the warmongers replaced his actual baby with a prosthetic baby. He worries that they (just like that one dingo) took his real baby-child from inside his womb & chopped and sliced her into pieces and ate her up. Leonard is worried that no evidence of his Hope and dream exists, aside from him walking around town forever pregnant with this cumbersome plastic aged (pronounced ajid) fetus in his tummy. Leonard is singing that many marriages end, but the one he is referring to was "spent" as if it was cash. The "widowhood of every government" means the big men in charge cause mass ruination & die before their women (actuarily speaking, women tend to live longer lives than their men) and leave the women to pick up the pieces. I think Leonard is singing that OFTEN it is men who destroy and women who try to repair. The "signs" Leonard sings about are the ways of the world. All of these metaphors bring up feelings of hopelessness and anger in Leonard. He is crying out for change.
I can't run no more
with that lawless crowd
while the killers in high places
say their prayers out loud.
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
a thundercloud
and they're going to hear from me.
Leonard desperately wants progress and peace, but is still angry in this stanza. He is tired of asking for honesty and receiving only deceit. When he sings that he "can't run no more with that lawless crowd", he is using a double negative when referring to his friends. He is singing that he can run with THAT lawless crowd. The "lawless crowd" he literally CAN'T run with are the extreme right-wingers who call themselves "Christian" and cause irreparable damage to those who have no specific religion. Leonard is obviously a very spiritual person who does not fit neatly into any one religious category. He thinks that religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell and spirituality is for those who have been to hell and are making their way out. He sees the hypocrisy of men in high places who love to kill subordinates for sport and then go to church to pray about it all. "That lawless crowd" rapes the free spirit of humanity and then says, "God bless you" to their victims. They say, "I'm praying for you" to a loved one's face while they were paying people to torment and abuse him behind his back. Leonard believes they are soul-less. They say things like, "We will die when the good Lord calls for us." Leonard thinks that is rather presumptuous of them and he says, "Good luck with that". Leonard says, " 'The Lord' might not be interested in your destructive and pious carcass." I love the metaphor of the conservative "Christians" producing a thundercloud of deceit & murkiness which summons Leonard's creative voice and song.
Ring the bells that still can ring ...
You can add up the parts
but you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march,
there is no drum
Every heart, every heart
to love will come
but like a refugee.
Leonard is saying, try adding everything up now and you won't have the sum. Parts of us get lost, shattered, broken in the process of Love. What was once considered "whole" > a town, a family, a person > becomes fragmented. If we gather together to march for anything, the drum is the heart of the parade and her beat has been silenced. The dove has now become a type of refugee. She is unwilling to return to the land where she resided for fifteen years because she was so harshly discriminated against for her race, "religion", nationality and her political opinions. She is a misfit. As hard as she tried to make peace with her homeland, it hadn't felt comfortable for years. She now resides in no man's land. She makes attempts to leave her fifteen year "homeland". She wants to escape the war, the civil and political unrest, but her attempts are unsuccessful because she has no financial independence. Her life has been reduced to nothing but danger, persecution (or the well-founded fear of persecution), famine and violence. She hasn't a home, other than the home she longs for, which is her dream. The longer it takes her to leave her ex-homeland territory the more despair she feels. She often feels trapped inside of her house alone (I intended no pun). She has no choice but to exercise patience and courage. A refugee yearns for a home and Love. I think Leonard is saying that he feels alone just like the holy dove. He is singing, "To every heart Love will come just like a refugee". He is singing about hope.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
Leonard wrote this Anthem for the holy dove moving inside of him. He believes she might still have a heart beat. He sings, "Ring the bells for all to hear. I'm 'cracked' and everybody knows it. I am human; vulnerable and strong". -
Verse 1:
>Now I've heard there was a secret chord
>That David played, and it pleased the Lord
David was a small boy who had great faith in Yahweh. He won the favor of King Saul after defeating the Philistine army champion, Goliath, with a single stone throw of his sling. As David's fame grew, King Saul's heart filled with jealously. Yahweh sent an evil spirit to torment Saul. But David came to Saul's aid and drove off the evil spirit with the music of his harp.
>But you don't really care for music, do you?
>It goes like this, the 4th, the 5th
>The minor fall, the major lift
>The baffled king composing Hallelujah
It is not the music but the heart or spirit behind it that Yahweh desires. The word Hallelujah means "Praise Yahweh" which is shortened to "Yah". David's music changed Saul's bitterness into praise to Yahweh. In praising God, the evil spirit was driven away.
Verse 2:
>Your faith was strong but you needed proof
>You saw her bathing on the roof
>Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
When David became a man, his faith in Yahweh gained him the respect of the people and he rose to the position of King. But the lust of his flesh betrayed him. He desired to have sex with Uriah's wife Bathsheba. David got her pregnant and tried to cover up his crime by having Uriah murdered and take her as his wife. Yahweh saw what David did and sent the prophet Nathan to deliver the message of His judgement. His son conceived in adultery would die. David fasted and cried out to Yahweh for 6 days. On the 7th day, his son was dead and David regained the favor of Yahweh.
>She tied you to a kitchen chair
>She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
>And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Samson was a mighty judge before the time of kings. He was dedicated to Yahweh from birth with a Nazarene vow. Yahweh blessed him with supernatural strength as long as the vow was kept. His wife, Delilah, was a Philistine. She enticed him to tell her the secret of his strength so she could have him murdered. He gave into her and as his 7 locks of hair were cut. Yahweh withdrew His Spirit and Samson's strength was lost. He was captured by the Philistines and his eyes were gouged out in mockery. The "Hallelujah" drawn from Samson's lips refers to Yahweh's Spirit.
Verse 3:
>Baby I have been here before
>I know this room, I've walked this floor
>I used to live alone before I knew you.
This refers to life experience before entering into this present relationship.
>I've seen your flag on the marble arch
>Love is not a victory march
>It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
When love is perceived as a military conquest, it is cold and heartless as stone archway. This is a broken and distorted love. Yahweh identifies Himself as Love. This love is demonstrated to us through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. When we desire this type of love we desire Him. All other love is broken.
Verse 4:
>There was a time you let me know
>What's really going on below
>But now you never show it to me, do you?
Heaven is above and earth is below. The voice here is Yahweh. Yahweh is remarking on how the subject no longer shares his heart with Him in prayer to let Him know what is really going on inside of him.
>And remember when I moved in you
>The holy dove was moving too
>And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
The Holy dove is a visible form of the Holy Spirit of Yahweh that lives inside everyone who has faith in Him. It is a intensely intimate relationship from which a faithful marriage is only a shadow. Yahweh identifies Himself as the bridegroom and those who receive His Spirit are His bride.
Verse 5:
>You say I took the name in vain
>I don't even know the name
>But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
In the 10 Commandments written by the finger of Yahweh on 2 stone tablets, Yahweh tells us in commandment 3 not to use His name in vain. The name of Yahweh refers not only to a word but also His holy reputation. Some try to justify using words like God, Jesus, My Gosh, Gee Wiz is the place of an expletive by claiming that is not His proper name. They are only distorted references. By asking, "what's it to you?" the speaker challenges Yahweh about the importance of this commandment.
>There's a blaze of light
>In every word
>It doesn't matter which you heard
>The holy or the broken Hallelujah
Christ identifies Himself as the Light of the World. If you have seen Him, you have seen the Father. Claiming that there is a blaze of light in every word claims that Yahweh moves through both our righteousness and our brokenness. All things are used for Yahweh's purpose.
Verse 6:
>I did my best, it wasn't much
>I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
>I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
This is a recognition of shortcomings.
>And even though it all went wrong
>I'll stand before the Lord of Song
>With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Despite life failures, shame and bitterness will not keep the singer from standing in Yahweh's presence and singing His praise, "Hallelujah". -
The song has a captivating melody and tone -- and truthfully the words never interested me as much as the feel of the song and the impact of the chorus. Before reading the verses I honestly couldn't tell you what that part of the song was about -- and I think its unimportant - irrelevent. In fact after reading some of the verses -- I wished I hadn't because it almost ruined it for me.
When Hallelujah is sung -- its not about the man -- its not about sex -- its not about anything but praising the Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.
If the verses were never sung again -- that would be ok. Its the chorus that brings the life and spark to the soul!
The chorus is haunting and brings tears to the eyes. People who hear the sound of Hallejuh in this song are touched so deeply and they know they have touch heaven by listening to it. Even the hardest heart realizes there is a God. -
for me, this song alludes to faith. Maybe Leonard Cohen was saying 'woman' IS faith. She used to move in him, NOW the LORD moves in him. A broken hallelujah, is the subconscious search for beauty and truth, which is reconciled. He is ultimately at Peace. His feminine side has been integrated into a wholeness. Love
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Each stanza of this song is meant to give a different significance to the word "Hallelujah".
In the first stanza "Hallelujah" is a feeling of hopelessness. A man is doing all that he can to impress the woman he loves but he's never quite enough for her. He is basically saying that even if he played the chord that David played to please the Lord, she still wouldn't be happy because she "doesn't care for music".
In the second stanza "Hallelujah" alludes to the guilty pleasure this man feels for having cheated on the woman he loves. He truly does love his partner but in a moment of weakness he broke down and cheated.
In the third stanza "Hallelujah" is about a man grappling with the memories of a lost love. He is going to a place where he used to live with his ex and the relationship ended badly. It puts him back in a dark place where he realizes that even though love may feel great it can also end in heartache.
In the fourth stanza "Hallelujah" is an orgasm. The man's lover hasn't been letting him touch her and he's upset by it so he's reminding her of the times when the sex was so great and ended in mutual orgasm.
In the fifth stanza a man is realizing that his relationship is over. "Hallelujah" represents a broken heart. He feels like love is just a facade and that everyone is glorifying a feeling that has only cause him pain.
The song is incredible and each stanza holds amazing significance. -
We can not know God's love for us and reciprate God's love untill we are recognize our brokenness. If we think we can earn God's love by our own good deads than we do not understand God's holiness. It was not untill King David was broken by his sins of adulatory and murder and yet realized that God still loved him that David really understood the love of God and could truly "praise God" which is what Hallelujah means.
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