Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah Meaning
Song Released: 1984
Covered By: Rufus Wainwright (2007), Jordan Smith (2015), Pentatonix (2016)
Hallelujah Lyrics
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Basically I think this song is about how everyone makes love out to be this wonderful thing, but in reality its filled with a lot of heartaches. I think the hallelujah is a sarcastic one, as in "Hallelujah, I'm in love." The bible is a good reference, because it is so well known, many people can relate to it. The story of David's lust is a perfect example of the pains of love.
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> Basically, Buckley seems to be taking the failed
> relationship aspect of the song
I don't think it is necessarily a failed relationship. In the speaker's view, love inherently is a cold and broken hallelujah, or at least inexorably becomes one after the initial passion cools off (after he moved in her and the holy dove was moving too). That's not to say that a deeper trust and bond cannot exist even though she doesn't tell him what's going on below anymore. He says that "love" (itself) is a cold and broken hallelujah, not "our love." No victory marches here, baby! -
The song addresses a significant other/girlfriend, in which the narrator expresses his opinion of the true nature of love using biblical stories and other metaphors. "You don't really care for music" means "you, i.e., the girlfriend that I'm speaking to." The "baffled king" is David -- the story in the first verse is all about King David and the music he played.
"Your faith was strong," etc., is another biblical story, but this time he may be addressing the (presumably male) listener instead of the (presumably female) significant other, placing the listener in the position of the protagonist of the story. Or he may be addressing the protagonist per se. However the allusions and metaphors are sufficiently abstract that the sex of the characters involved probably is irrelevant, so one could still interpret it as continuing to address a S.O., comparing her to the male biblical character. Of course, when a woman sings the song, it erases this ambiguity.
"Baby, I've been here before" turns it back unequivocally to the significant other, and finally gets at what the song is really about, the true nature of love as a "cold and broken hallelujah" -- no victory march, no flag on the arch, not a cry in the night or anyone seeing the light.
"Maybe there's a god above" continues and completes the previous thread, with the absolutely delightful "how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya." The really charming rhymes are reminiscent of those in Don Juan by Byron: "Her favorite science was the mathematical/Her wit ... was Attic all," etc.
Leonard Cohen will certainly be remembered as a true genius of 20th/21st century letters, and this is one of his greatest masterpieces. -
Jeff Buckely did not kill himself, he drowned and the toxicology report state he was sober.
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In this version I believe the song is paralleling David's experience with love and the speaker's experience. They both seem to have experienced pain but were overcome with overwhelming love during the affair. The actual Hallelujah seems bitter and sad as an apology or struggled offering to God. These are such complex lyrics and I'm sure there are meanings within the meanings but that's the beauty in music- it means whatever is on your heart and grabbing at your soul.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I'm pretty sure both versions are by Leonard Cohen. The first one submitted was the 1984 version on the album Various Positions.
The second version (with a different 3rd verse) is on the 1997 album More Best of Leonard Cohen. Although, the alternate lyrics might have appeared earlier, that's the earliest record I know of. -
I'm more familiar with the Jeff Buckley version myself.
Bascially, he's saying that love is painful, not triumphant. ("not a victory march").
Then, he says that she used to let him know "what's really going on below", which is a reference to her, uh... Sexual organs. It's saying she used to share her body with him and let him in on what was going on with her, but now she doesn't and their sex life has suffered and she doesn't seem to want him anymore and he's not sure why.
Basically, Buckley seems to be taking the failed relationship aspect of the song and showing how David, the "baffled king" can't figure out why this woman who he risked everything for (including sending her husband, Uriah, off to battle so he would get killed, as the Biblical story goes) has lost interest in him.
basically, he thought love could give him the same joy in life that music and his religion did, but it didn't work out and turned out to be a "cold... broken hallelujah", especially because, like in David's case, he fell in love with the wrong woman *who was already married* for the wrong reasons.
That's why the jaded narrator points out that all he "ever learned from love/ was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya"... another sexual reference, maybe, or the idea of capturing the heart of somebody who already has yours.
Anyway, this is a very deep and complex and beautiful song, and it's very hard to interpretate it just one way. Hopefully this helps some. -
Don´t really know if this fits in here. (sorry if it doesn´t!) I know another version of the song (jeff buckley?), where the first and second verse are the same, but the rest is completely different. Could anyone please write something about the meaning of the following:
well baby I've been here before
i've seen this room, and I've walked this floor,
i used to live alone before I knew you
i've seen your flag on the marble arch
but love is not a victory march
it's a cold and it's a broken 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
well maybe there´s a god above
but all I've ever learned from love
was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
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 -
In this song, hallelujah is not a celebration of god. It is what comes to the lips of the man who has been severely pierced by romantic love. Through the story of king david, cohen shows how it can be so painful, and the consequences so great that it leads a man to humility and the need for god's mercy.
The line, "your faith was strong but you needed proof" is worth highlighting. Obviously a very ironic statement since absolute faith is inspite of proof. But that's where David was; in search of the spiritual experience that shows his god's presence when he can't have what he most wants. The spiritual reality lives on faith, the material on proof.
This song does describe the pains of love, but it is more about a person's spiritual journey in relationship to romantic love. This is what happens when one worships romantic love; hallelujah becomes "cold and broken".
Looking at Cohen's journey, he eventually very much detached from the material world and deeply entered his own spiritual journey. This song, I believe, is cohen trying to work out his own dilemma's between romantic love and spirituality, between proof and faith and inevitably, between the ego and the soul. -
I wasn't sure what artist to put this under, sine SO many people have done Hallelujah. There are some really good versions out there. I personally like the Rufus Wainwright verson A LOT. I would have sumitted this interpretation under his name, only I saw someone wanted an interpretation on this version, so you can listen to my VERY long analysation. I'm going to do this thing line by line, and I know that there are a lot of different ways Leonard Cohen has song it himself, so I'm going to do the version I'm most famillar with, so here it goes.
The first line, "I heard there was a secret chord, that David played, and It pleased the Lord," is fairly obvious, if you're going with the thery that this song is based on biblical stories. I don't know what other explination threre would be if you don't believe that this is based on biblical stories. So anyway, this line is refering to King David before he became king. David played the harp, and if you remeber the David and Golith story, the chord that David played pleased King Saul. Since it was a pleasing chord, and it pleased King Saul, it also pleased the Lord. The lyrics are REALLY go well with the music, because in Rufus Wainwright's version the piano actually sounds like a harp, and in Leonard Cohen's version there are arpeggios that are harp-like.
Now for the second line. I've visited a few other lyric interpretation websites that are really into the whole Hallelujah debate, and I might use some of their interpretation in mine. I suppose if I believe they are right, it isn't plagerism is it? Anyway, the second lineish, since I'm not exactly going by lines, "But you don't really care for music do you?" I think that Leonard Cohen is telling his song from David's point of view, and commenting on how he thinks David sees this all. I think this line is a sarcasim, and it's talking about Bathsheba. Bathsheba didn't appreciate how big of a sacrifice David made to betray the Lord's trust, and going after her instead.
Third line. "It goes like this, the forth the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift." David is proving to Bathsheba how great music is. In Leonard Cohen's version, (I havn't listened that closely to the others yet) the music atually goes into forth and fifth, and then into a minor chord, then a major one, as dictated by the lyrics. It's pretty cool to listen.
Forth line. "The baffled king composing Hallelujah." I think this is a perfect literary picture of David, about how he tried to get Bathsheba, but it all backfired. He baffled how love could do this to him, and he's now composing Hallelujah.
Chorus. "Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah." This is just describing how David (and possibly Leonard) feels about love, and it's effects.
First line, second verse. "Your faith was strong but you needed proof." I'm not completely sure about this phrase. I think personally it might be about David's faith in God, or maybe in love. He needed proof in God, or maybe he needed proof in love. I'm not sure, I could use someone to give their interpretation to me:D
Second line "You saw her bathing on the roof." This is when David sees Bathsheba bathing on the roof. (Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah.) David is now King, and temptation got the best of him, and he wathced Bathsheba on the roof.
Third line "Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you." I'm pretty sure it's describing Bathsheba bathing on the roof. If it's not than I'm blabbering on about nothing here.
Forth line "She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne and she cut your hair" This is talking about what happened afterword. Bathsheba got pregnant, and Uriah was killed in battle, under David's orders. Bathsheba found out, and when the "House of David" was ruined, it also broke his throne. I'm not sure about the symbalism with the kitchen chair. A lot of people think that the cutting of hair is refuring to Sampson, who was a Nazarit. I think someone gave a better interpretation on a website. They said that the cutting of hair is like the way he was in a way 'stripped of his morals." then after stripping him of his morals, she broke his throne.
Fifth line. "And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah" I think it's just decribing what Bathsheba did to David, how love was in his sight. She did this then drew a Hallelujah from his lips pretty much.
Chorous again.
The different versions of the song have different verses from here on out, but I think most of them all are talking about how love is to them. Then at the end with the line, "It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah," it's talking about how love is cold and hard, but through it all love is still love. Love is still beautiful and special, and it's still Hallelujah through it all.
Well, there is my very long interpretation. If you got through it, congratulations. I hoped it helped:D
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