Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah Meaning
Song Released: 1984
Covered By: Rufus Wainwright (2007), Jordan Smith (2015), Pentatonix (2016)
Hallelujah Lyrics
-
"I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah"
This is a song about a man who when he was a boy loved his mother as David loved God but his mother had some emotional coldness and was unable to reciprocate so he felt rejected lost and forlorn.
It felt as if she was deaf to his love for her in the same way some people don't appreciate music.
He tried in vain to tell her of the beauty and strength of his love.
"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 a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah."
At some point he may have watched his mother semi-naked and adored her image but she caught him and punished and humiliated him.
"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"
interpretation:
The boy didn't choose to be with her but was brought into the world starting as a single lone entity and then thrust into her arms.
He was unable to see his mother as a woman with emotional difficulties so instead began to see her as someone regal majestic but distant and aloof.
Unrequited love feels like defeat not victory.
"There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah."
interpretation:
At first she may have given the infant the love he needed but as he grew into a boy she withdrew.
As a baby he moved inside her womb and together they drew breath and it was the purest love.
"Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah"
Frustrated by his unrequited love the boy mistakenly assumes that his mother must require him to compete in order to win her love. A futile pursuit. The love becomes turned inward, stifled, unfulfilled.
"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"
interpretation:
When the boy confessed his love for his mother she dismissed it as childish fantasy. He feels the need to defend the sincerity of his feelings because she doesn't seem to get it.
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
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
As an adult man he laments the strength of the feelings he had as a boy how he tried to connect with his mother but failed. He still carries this burden of feeling that she didn't fully understand or accept his love for her. It has affected his whole adult life with a yearning and emptiness.
But he maintains a kind of hope that true love will win out someday. -
Just a few ideas here: she tied you to her kitchen chair, she broke your throne and cut your hair: This could be Delilah and Sampson, but also in King David's time, to cut of your hair (men) it was humiliating and disgraceful. He sent out his army once, and they couldn't come back because the enemy (before declared war) had cut off their clothes at the hip, also they had cut off their hair, so they were ashamed.
Also (possible) your faith was strong but you needed proof: He was temptd by Batsheba and so went against his faith. and through his child died and he was disgraced, God did not desert him, and his faith survived even if he was broken. Proof of his strong faith.
All I ever learned from love, was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya'..... cold and broken Hallelujah. : David, when Bathsheba was pregnant, called Ulriah home from the battle, got him drunk, and hoped he would sleep with his wife, then when the baby was born, Bathsheba gave birth, it would appear that the kid was Ulriah's. But he didn't go home to his wife because his fellow soldiers were at war - so he OUTDREW David (did he know what David was doing?) because the result of this would brake Davids household, So then David in a last resort, sends Ulriah to where the fighting is worse.
The plan works, Ulriah is killed and David is free to marry Bathsheba(how to SHOOT somebody who outdrew ya'), but the baby still brings disgrace, Nathan (a prophet) reveals David's sin, at which point he repents, but his child still dies. (A cold and broken Hallelujah) -
Thought this was worthy of a mention:
The second half of the first verse is actually an account of the chord progression being used with the changes occurring exactly on cue with the lyrics. For example in the key of G it would look like this –
It goes like this…
The fourth ,(C is the 4th position of the major scale)
The fifth (D is the 5th position of the major scale)
The minor fall, (Em is next position and a minor)
The major lift (and back to C major)
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
As for the religious elements my interpretation is that the passion that Cohen experiences through the trials of love are likened to a religious experience and illustrated through biblical metaphors accordingly.
Although the song is called Hallelujah the word is simply used as a way to express the intensities of what he is experiencing . -
Having a little time to reflect on the song “Hallelujah,” I frankly had to re-examine the lyrics and do some further investigation about the song and its author. This song, originally written by Leonard Cohen, a Jewish Canadian, reminds me of a piece of art, if I may use an analogy. Great paintings, for example, are complex and often difficult, if not impossible, to interpret. Thus the old adage, “art is in the eye of the beholder.” Great art is open to many interpretations. That’s why it’s great art. Having done just a little research on the possible meanings of the lyrics of “Hallelujah,” I found a plethora of interpretations, some that were very insightful. There are, however, some common themes.
After reviewing some of these interpretations, here’s my take on the song. The song is about the contrast between the unconditional love of God (agape love) toward man, and carnal love (the lust of Man’s eyes) that falls short of God’s love and His will for our lives. This theme is repeated throughout the ebb and flow of the lyrics. It contrasts the glory of God’s love, with the sadness of carnal love and the consequences of it, inevitably falling short of real love (agape love), leaving us cold, disappointed, broken, alone and separated from God by our sin.
Yet, regardless of where we are spiritually, whether striving to walk in faith or broken and disheartened by our sin, God has not changed. We can still look up and praise Him, Hallelujah! He is still there. In between each stanza is the refrain, Hallelujah. The stories change from stanza to stanza, but the Hallelujah remains the same.
This is the struggle that we all face. We are all fallen from Grace. Yet God’s love and grace is still there for us to receive. Just as David and Samson and Solomon succumbed to carnal love, God still loved them. True love (agape love) is unconditional. Carnal love is fleeting and does not last. It is a false and fallen love. But in whatever spiritual state we are in, we can still reach out and look up and praise God (Hallelujah!) for his enduring mercy, grace and love.
Someone once said, “I am no better than the worst of sinners, and no worse than the best of sinners.” Scripture says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags. . . .,” (Isaiah 64:6). Even the Apostle Paul said he was “chief among sinners.” Jesus, in his parable of the Pharisee and the publican, contrasted a Pharisee, obsessed by his own virtue, with a tax collector who humbly asked God for mercy.
The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: 'God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." - Luke 18:9-14
The Pharisee asked for nothing and received nothing. The publican asked for mercy and received mercy. It’s easy to say, as did the Pharisee, look at him, I’m glad I’m not like him (the publican). While the publican fell to his knees and asked God to have mercy on him, a sinner. It was the publican who went home justified. The Pharisee could see the publican's faults but couldn't see his own selfrighteousness.
This song has been recorded by over 200 artists. I read that the writer of the original version, subsequently wrote about 80 different versions of the lyrics. We will never know what he was thinking when he wrote the song. We do know that there are many different interpretations of the lyrics.
I found, for me at least, after some further discernment and introspection, the song actually has a redeeming message in the lyrics, demonstrating the futility of carnal love to satisfy Man’s desire for real love. A love that only God can give. -
"There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah"
i think this could be referring to joseph and mary. it's different, because it is new testament and everything else was old, BUT, it says the holy dove - jesus christ was referred to as a dove in the bible.
this could be about joseph having sex with mary while she is pregnant with jesus. -
All of the above point to connections between David and Cohen. both are in the poem, Cohen's personal experience, and the metaphor he uses of David and Bathsheba. These are themes that return often for Cohen the poet and the songwriter: Sexual love and devotional love, it's all about the longing for connection and love. Cohen has always been devoted to both women and the spirit. Perhaps it has sometimes been a conflict for him, but he seems to more often praise the ‘holy dove’ that moves in him with a lover. But in the world 'below', on Earth, nothing lasts, not sexual love, nor even faith in God is constant, and sometimes our Hallelujah’s are cold and broken, when we lose faith or have our hearts broken. Cohen is a poet, and poets and prophets are visionaries and praise singers. Since Cohen also plays music – I think he is aligning himself with David, the harpist and psalmist or songwriter, who is also deeply human, a lover of beautiful women, who can be tempted and fall into sin, yet will not renounce his connection with his God. In spite of losing his son, and his throne, David is still a praise singer, a song writer, a poet and cannot ‘not sing’ Hallelujah. Even when he is down, he will sing.
Cohen always embraces the darkness and the light. That's why we love him. He's the real thing. -
Leonard Cohen is a powerful song writer / poet and many of his songs include religious imagery. I will give my understanding of his lyrics to Hallelujah as you read through them.
Here is the link to a youtube of one of my favorite versions of the song, sung by Allison Crowe, as she sings with such emotion. Here, also, is the link to a youtube of Leonard Cohen singing his own song, also amazing. In both of these youtube versions some of the verses have been left out, or words changed. I have included the text of the original words to all of the verses, written here below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIMOdVXAPJ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzWeN-bVDUc
Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen, 1984
C Am
I’ve heard there was a secret chord, that
C Am
David played and it pleased the lord
F G C
But you don't really care for music, do you?
C F G It goes like this the fourth, the fifth,
Am F G
the minor fall and the major lift
G Em Am
The baffled king composing hallelujah
F Am F
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,
C G C
hallelu-u-u-u-jah ....
This first verse is speaking of King David, the one who wrote the Psalms, the prayer songs to God. The Bible says that David "Pleased the Lord". The "you don't really care for music, do you?" part could mean Cohen's songs, who he is, or his desire for intimacy with God laying on deaf ears, with others not caring about this. The "fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift" are all musical references, different kinds of note intervals that David may have used to compose his psalms. These are the exact note / chord patterns that are played in that section of the song: C to F is a fourth interval, F to G is a fifth interval, then going to A minor is "falling" down the music scale and then it goes back up "lifting" up to major chords F and then G. I added in the chords to this part of the song so you can see this.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof, you saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight over threw you
She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne, she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelu-u-u-u-jah...
This second verse speaks of King David seeing Bathsheba bathing on the roof and falling in love with her. This led to him committing adultery with her, betraying and sending her husband out to be killed, and fathering a child with her. This story is in 2 Samuel in the Bible. David was a complex person, capable of very base human error, and yet also with such deep love for God and repentence. Another image of this human vulnerability and imperfection and betrayal is also shown in this verse with "She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne, she cut your hair" which is referring to Samson and Delilah. Where she betrayed him. This story is in the book of Judges in the Bible. One an image of betraying to get what one wants, another of being betrayed. Each time a woman was the downfall of the great godly man. This is pretty sexist, but the main point I think that Cohen is trying to make is that man is so imperfect and within our brokenness and imperfections and betraying and being betrayed by each other, we still cry out to God and our relationship with God remains intact. The love bond does not break. And we are worshiping in an even deeper way from our brokenness, through pain, and sorrow, through repentance and reality.
Maybe 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
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelu-u-u-u-jah ....
This third verse speaks of human love, or a relationship with God, or anything in life as not being just these idealized things that they are typically described as, but also include much pain. Love is easy in the beginning, but as time and life goes on to be true and to still love and to still cry out to God from our failure and brokenness, this is reality. And God is still there, and forgives us, and heals us, and loves us.
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
And remember when I moved in you, the holy dark was moving too
And every breath we drew was hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelu-u-u-u-jah...
This fourth verse uses what can be understood as a human, in-love relationship which has lost its intimacy both emotionally and physically. How beautiful it once was, and now it is not like this, anymore. Often Cohen uses human intimate, in-love imagery to describe the experience of the intimate, in-love relationship with God, as it is maybe the next closest experience we have to this on earth. In the first written version of this verse, which is written here, Leonard Cohen uses the phrase "the holy dark was moving too" which chould be interpereted as two lovers making love in the night. It could also mean the holy spirit. Later, Cohen changed the phrase, when singing this song, to "the holy dove, she was moving too" which can more clearly be an image of the holy spirit, like in the Gospel of Luke describing "the holy spirit came down upon him (Jesus) as a dove." This phrase has also been sung, "the holy ghost was moving too" which Allison Crowe sings in her performance of the song. It can be interpereted as an intimate, in-love human love relationship which in its best form is a holy union, a gift from God, and / or as a more direct intimate in-love relationship with God. With either one, at times it is so exquisitely close and at other times one feels more distant, hungering for that closeness, again.
Maybe there's a God above, and all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
And it's not a cry you can 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, hallelu-u-u-u-jah ....
In this verse Cohen says "all I've ever learned from love is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you" which seems so sad, like it is a description of someone just trying to retaliate at someone for hurting them. It seems that he is saying he knows nothing of love. He also says that "Maybe there's a God above" and that although many people claim to know this or that about God, to have experienced a voice in the night, or a realization that has all of a sudden allowed them to "see the Light" it is, for Leonard Cohen, a lifelong journey, through ups and downs and brokenness and failure and still, with all, a knowledge and an awareness that God is God and which compels a "hallelujah" to lift up from his soul. It seems that Leonard Cohen is saying that this realization is what he knows, and nothing else for sure. "Hallelujah" in Hebrew means "Praise Yaweh" or "Praise God" or "God is holy" or "God is great". In another version Leonard Cohen changes the words in this verse to people "claiming" to have heard cries in the night and people "claiming" to have seen the light, so this could also be coming from something within his own experience of religious people lacking in genuineness.
You say I took the name in vain, I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really what's that to you
There's a blaze of light in every word, it doesn't matter what you heard
The holy or the broken hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelu-u-u-u-jah ....
When this verse mentions "the name" this is one of the holy Hebrew words for God: "Ha Shem" "The Name". It seems that some person(s)said that Leonard Cohen took the name of the Lord God in Vain. It could be that Leonard Cohen has had criticisms for his songs mentioning holy subjects along with the frailties and brokenness of humanity. The "but if I did, well really what's that to you." seems to say it is not for anyone else to judge him. When he says "there's a blaze of light in every word, it doesn't matter which you heard" he is saying that all is holy, all came from God and there is a bit of holiness in it all. This idea is born out in the description of creation in the book of John ("In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not") Also, the "I don't even know the name" is because no one knows the true name of God. God said to Moses tell them "I Am" has sent you when Moses asked for His name. Men created many names for God (there are tons in the Bible, some that describe God as a loving, nursing mother, some as a strong king, so many different names to describe different aspects of God.)I love this phrase "There's a blaze of light in every word" Christ is in all things, every single thing is holy in this sense, and shouting out "I love you!" and giving us the opportunity to love God through his creation and each other. The holy or the broken Hallelujah...maybe the "holy" is the praising one (like the praising psalms of David) and the "broken" is the crying out to God from a place of pain and fear (like the psalms of David with these themes). Both are Hallelujah's, realizing God is God and our need for Him.
I did my best, it wasn't much, I couldn't feel, so tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't try to fool you
And even though it all went wrong, I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my lips but hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelu-u-u-u-jah...
In this final verse, it seems like Leonard Cohen is trying to explain his life, thus far, or at the end of his life... He did his best, although he feels it wasn't much. I don't understand the "I couldn't feel so tried to touch" phrase, unless it means that he couldn't "Agape" (God's love) like he wanted to be able to, so tried to find this love through human contact, through "Eros" (human love, in-love love). He feels that he was honest, throughout. He believes that in the end, when he stands before God, although a failure in his own eyes, he will stand before God with this truth that he has learned, "Hallelujah" maybe the only truth that he has learned, and maybe all that there is to learn "Hallelujah" -
I believe this song is uniquely Jewish in presentation, understanding, and interpretation. Clearly Mr. Cohen makes the initial introduction, and teases with the line, "But you don't really care for music, do you?", which we all answer privately. The minor fall is a metaphor of David's temporary fall of his Kingdom, and the major lift was when God restored him to the throne. The double meaning, of course, is that we all fall, and those of either Promise or Faith are always restored, Hallelujah.
The second and third verses are really intriguing, as it almost paints the picture of a post event interview between the Lord and David. The Lord retells a particular story about his life, the great love story between him and Bathsheba, and then throws in some metaphors like the chair to express Bathsheba's grip on David followed by the cutting of hair, to demonstrate either grief or repentance (perhaps both in this case) to which David responds, yeah,I know where you're going, "I know this floor, I've walked this room (i.e., the palace where he lived but before David was King), the flag of King Saul, the "victory march" where David danced in the streets which immediately led to Saul's insanity and intent to kill David, altogether leading to a cold and broken bittersweet victory. What David did out of love for God, i.e., killing Goliath, led to his serving Saul, but it did not end the way he thought it would. It ended in a cold and broken expulsion from the kingdom, to which he replies the first broken Hallelujah (as in, praising God because that is all that there is left to do).
The next stanza is David responding further to God, basically saying, what the heck, we had this "thing" going before Bathsheba, and now you have stopped telling me about how to run this kingdom you gave me "here below", though I still remember when we were both united in spirit (reference to the dove), and we were both working together to bring praise to your You the meaning of Hallelujah, of course). And then again follows the compelling chorus, Hallelujah.
So David, next stanza, recognizes he is now separated from God, and reflects on exactly what love gets him. Well, it gets him enemies who "shoot" at him, it gives him internal anguish (the cry you cannot hear at night), it gets you people who always want to give you advice because they have "seen the light". But in the end, even though it all sucks, what else can you do but praise God, another broken Hallelujah, another reminder that His love is perpetual.
At last David asks God why God thinks he has taken His name "in vain" since he doesn't even know what it is because no one since Adam has known what His true name really is, spelled phonetically as Yahweh, so he asks why it should matter, since Truth (God) is always Truth (the "blaze" of light being reminiscent of the bush that burned but did not wither, i.e., God, the author of Truth, appearing to Moses), and he extrapolates that whether it is "holy" or "broken" it is still Truth, so take that, Hallelujah.
And then the final confession from David at the end of life: "I did my best to speak the Truth, it wasn't supposed to go so wrong but it did (because we are only human), and what I really wanted was to touch you but I couldn't, so the best way I could express my love for you was to express it to the woman I loved who loved me back (Bathsheba); so, sure I made some mistakes, but the only thing left that matters and can be expressed is the intent of my heart (note: God loved David because he "had a heart like my own") and it is this: that when I die I will stand before the Lord and I will still be singing Hallelujah." After this are several more expressions of praise to God.
Another intriguing aspect is the unfolding of the Hallelujahs. Perhaps it is David speaking to God and God answering back and then the final Hallelujah, or perhaps they are all echos of the original Hallelujah. Only Mr. Cohen knows the answer to this one! -
The biblical inference to David sets the mood of disparity for a man whose life was altered by an act of lust initiated by the sight of Bathseba bathing on a roof. Before then, David was chosen by the Lord to be the king of Israel, became credible to the people, when as a young boy, he conquered the giant Golieth with a single stone. The Lord had great hope for David and loved him dearly. The Lord will forgive a repentant adulturer but David's great sin happened when he ordered Uriah, Bathseba's husband, to the front on the enemy lines to be assuredly killed in battle. When the prophet Nathan told David that the Lord knew what he had done, David's paradigm shifted. He was no longer in a partnership with the Lord, he sang of his sorrow. He took on wives and concubines, he became swept up in the typical that could get boring, which boredom is felt in the song. He no longer held righteous dominion. Because of the paradym shift Halleluja is now an expression of his secularism that he has now embraced. It was Samson who was tied down and his strength sapped from him through a hair cut by his lover Delilah. Samson had been chosen by the Lord to be a great judge of Israel but he had broken the covenant he had made to the Lord because of sexual sin. The hair cut is symbolic of the broken covenant. David's story is Samson's story and Samson's story is David's story.
-
I really like this song but I don't usually interpret it but I thought I would give it a go.
I think the entire song is about a guy breaking up with a girl and then how he feels ultimately about it. The first half is him breaking up with the girl, referring to reasons why and then the second half is how he feels about it.
I see the verses in this order (with examples):
V1: guy talks to girl giving an introduction to his intention of a break up
V2: he talks about his initial infatuation of love of her ("Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you") and then the control of the woman over the man (And she broke your throne and she cut your hair)
V3: It goes back to the conversation, he is explaining how he feels (Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah)
V4: He talks about how she has closed off to him and how much she is going to miss him after the break up
V5: This final verse, I think concludes how he felt about the relationship -
I was young when I heard this song, and there are some parts that are reference to the Bible, but most of it is about love, an how it totally messes up life sometimes.
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One of the things I absolutely love about this song is how each person perceives something different from the same lyrics.
I framed the LC version with both the tone and the lyrics he presented. The theme of the song is based in the duality of love that two people share and the issues it causes when they don't understand each other enough to believe the other actually loves them (the color conundrum- does the color blue I see appear as vivid and vibrant to you as it does to me, and if not, how do I make you understand?).
As an undertone, LC is comparing his view of love to God, but in a more romantic sense, hence the symbolism. This is why he continually refers to "her" and "baby" and why he says he doesn't know if there is a God (in the oft excluded verse). In the song he is speaking at times to himself and at times to his "lover." I believe the word Hallelujah is a metaphor for his idea of true love (and keep that in mind as you listen to the lyrics and his tone). I feel LC is singing about how he believes he is personally flawed in his view of love and this is his explanation (even apology) to the woman he hurt. So, segment by segment:
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
I believe this is LC's internal dialogue about himself, specifically about his hesitation or inability to love/express love(it becomes more apparent later). The detached, almost despondent, tone lays out his problem--he tells himself he doesn't believe in true love any longer, but he yearns for it.
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The "chord" is a metaphor for his willingness to expose himself emotionally or just believe in true love; he "plays" it although he doesn't believe in the end-goal any longer (the song toys with this duality), going through the motions (hence LC narrating him playing the "chord").
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
He sees himself as a "king" of his own lonely kingdom, playing a "tune" that he doesn't understand nor care for. "Baffled," he pushes on hoping to find that happiness, obviously with a grim outlook. Baffled refers to his observation of his duality in not believing in love, but still seeking it--which is in line with "don't care for music, do you" but his actions stating the opposite. (this sets the entire rest of the song)
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
Along the same thread as above, he is speaking to himself again. This time, his "faith" is how he now, cynically, views love. His first line means he didn't believe in true love, but he wanted proof that it didn't exist (although you see he-as do we all- so desperately hoped it did).
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
The bathing on the roof symbolism is an allusion to the biblical story, although here, I think he is trying to say he was intrigued and hopeful that it was love. I think this is important because I get the feeling that love is God to LC... and I feel his way of correlating the biblical story, replacing himself as the flawed but in-love king is beautiful.
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
Tying him to a kitchen chair, breaking his throne and cutting his hair is all symbolism for his love for her changing him (settling down to the "family" concept or domestic life, no longer being the "king," and her symbolically taking his strength--in this case, his emotional solitude).
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
With this line, if there was any doubt before, now he believes in love. In this verse one could construe the "she:, mistakenly, as the antagonist since the word "drew" suggests it was not given up willingly. As I'm sure every man has felt at one point or another "losing" his freedom to a woman he loves may feel like that at times, but he is delighted--happy.
Baby I have been here before
The first line of this verse signifies his previous relationships, being there before, and his hesitation to again "love."
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
Knowing the room and walking the floor is an allusion to his solitude or emotional state (we often use the term "put up walls" to refer to emotional guarding--same concept).
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
Here the crux of the problem in the relationship arises. The flag on the marble arch is a reference to an army conquering a city and hanging their banner on the gates (as in Roman times). He is calling her out on his perception that she sees love as a goal, or an object to conquer. Rather, in the next line, he states how he sees love as painful and sobering (masochistic, yes?) but more of a journey or ideal than an object. This, he presents, is his flaw.
There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
The obvious sexual undertones aside, I believe this just refers to her being open and expressive with him. If you have to couch it as they used to "make love" but now they don't have that connection, I'd buy that (I just prefer the more cerebral connotation).
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
This is his recalling how he believed, probably through her telling him, that she loved him and how he made her feel. The Holy Dove is likely another biblical allusion, again supporting this pure love.
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
If you have been replacing the Hallelujah's with the word love, no explanation needed.
Maybe there is a god above
Here it shows his dualism again, showing his faith, but requiring that proof (which has been a constant undertone for the song).
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
Again about his flaw, how he learned to hurt someone before they got the chance to hurt him--the cynical view of love and relationships. "Outdrew" literally means to be beaten, again violating his view of love (cold and cynical) but supporting hers (a victory march on a conquered city).
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
Again with the cynicism, love is not a proclamation--a mere word--nor is it profound, like being struck by lightening... rather to him it is cold and cruel, but also so beautiful and desirable choice.
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?
The name in vain is her claim that he sees their love/relationship differently than she, and that disrespects the love. He counters by saying he doesn't even know what love is, but that it doesn't matter (cont' below)
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
He continues by adding that every word has meaning, and that love is love, so it shouldn't matter which "version" she thought he meant as it is love to him.
I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
Here he is apologetic, for not being what she needed/wanted. A reference to "touch" I think is him literally going through the motions of being in the relationship (the "I love you, too's" that he offered when he didn't really know what it meant). This is the epiphany of his apology, he so badly wanted to feel what she felt, but he experienced it differently, although he parroted her "motions" hoping to feel the same thing she did. Do not mistake this for him not loving her, as he most certainly did, but just not in a way she could or was able to appreciate.
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
Adding on the lines above in him affirming he did/does love her.
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Despite everything being ruined, he concludes the apology with a proclamation that he could stand before his maker and know he has felt real love, even though she doesn't believe him. Hallelujah, sir, Hallelujah.
This is an actual quote from Leonard Cohen that I think sums it up nicely:
"Finally there's no conflict between things, finally everything is reconciled - but not where we live. This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled, but there are moments when we can transcend the dualistic system and reconcile and embrace the whole mess." -
When looking at the interpretation of songs, I tend to look at it from my point of view, as opposed to the artist's. This song is a perfect example.
When I perform this song, I sing it from the scorned wife's perspective.
Obviously, the first verse is referring to the biblical David. When it gets to the second verse, I shift the song as if I were singing to my straying husband. We had a strong marriage, but that strength dissolved when he met the other woman. She was so beautiful to him that he chose to risk our marriage for sexual desires. When I sing the "she tied you to her kitchen chair" part, I see it as sarcasm. As if she made him do it (in response to his "I didn't mean for it to happen" statement). It implies that he was a big boy and did it of his own accord, she didn't force him into it. Also, the cutting his hair statement does refer to taking his strength away as someone before me mentioned. Once my husband felt trapped in both relationships (our marriage and his girlfriend), he lost strength. He was in too deep and didn't know how to get out or "fix" the situation.
The third verse is sung as if I had left my husband in the end (upon learning of the affair). "I've been alone before, so I'll be OK when I leave you," is how I sing it. Then, of course, the meaning at the end of the song is fairly self evident when looking at it from my perspective. There was once a time when our love was strong and he thought the world of me. During the affair, our sexual interactions were few and far between.
Love sucks. -
I just became aware of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah this past month while watching a PBS fundraiser and was very taken by the song and Cohen's intensity of this performance. I'm writing this because as I played the song and tried to learn if for myself, my cat Sam has taken great offense at these efforts. He freaks out and meows at the speakers when I play it and in my face when I sing it. I wonder what that means.
-
The song is about a mans walk with God, which at one time drew a happy and spirit filled praise, but each of his sins the 4th the 5th, etc. led to a great fall, but the fall was quite “minor” in comparison to Gods love and mercy.
This second type of hallelujah came from a cold reality, and from the mans brokenness, but this type of hallelujah also came from the depths of his heart (Where it matters most).
It is when we cry out to God with a broken and empty spirit, that He lifts us up again. It often times takes a great fall before we humble ourselves, and realize His love and great mercy to us ward. Even so, the fall itself is "minor" compared to the "major" lift (Exaltation) we receive from our Lord in return.
David composed this hallelujah with his very life. God doesn’t care much for music, but rather how we live our lives and acknowledge him. David composed his song through his life, and was baffled at the Lords mercy after he committed such crimes against him.
He became empty, void of the Holy Spirit at one point, but God exalted him in his humility, whereby He came to praise God once again.
Both David and Sampson were great men of power who ended up broken, reaching out to God in desperation, humility, and shame. David’s fall was the murder of a man who had what he desired (The man out drew him) while Sampson's fall was the pride of self and vanity.
Each of our lives are a composition of the "Secret chord". Our lives are a composition of "hallelujah" in the making. Our devotion to God both in happiness and when broken is the "Secret Chord" that pleases the lord. David played this secret chord through a life devoted to God.
We live, we stumble, we fall, we become broken and it is in our brokenness that we call on God in desperation, and repentance. God then leads us to His love, whereby a heart felt and joyful “hallelujah” is drawn from our cold, broken realities, and from the depths of our soul once again.
Life can break even the strongest man, yet in a mans brokenness, God is able to build him back up with His love. Such is the reality of many a believer.
The Hallelujah the writer gave before his fall was out a joyful praise, while the hallelujah he gave after he fell was out of broken humility, yet also with great and joyful praise.
"Hallelujah" remained on his tongue and was offered to the Lord of song because God had exalted him in His humility.
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