Question:
What is the song Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen about ?
anonymous
2009-11-14 12:29:59 UTC
What is the song Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen about ? Is it a religious song ? A mockery of religion ? I really love the song, but can't figure it out. Thanks for any help.
Seven answers:
raysny
2009-11-14 19:29:16 UTC
This question gets asked quite a bit; the song one of my favorites.



Cohen weaves religious/Biblical references throughout his works. Here he's merging his own love life with that of King David and Bathsheba. Pure, sacred love being lost by the body's physical needs.



The best explanation I've found of that song is "One Haunting Ballad Has Been the Soundtrack to Many Lives Recently. But Why?" by Bryan Appleyard, which can be found at:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article409551.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1



This comes from an interview with Leonard Cohen by John McKenna



" In the song Hallelujah, he draws on a wonderfully and subversively passionate passage in the second book of Samuel. It happened towards evening when David had risen from his couch and was strolling on the palace roof that he saw from the roof a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful. David made enquiries about this woman and was told 'why that is Bethsheba, Allion's daughter, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.' Then David sent messengers and had her brought. She came to him and he slept with her. Now she had just purified herself from her courses. She then went home again. The woman conceived and sent word to David - 'I am with child'.



In the song there's the baffled king, David, and there's the baffled singer, Leonard Cohen, in search of the lost chord that certainly pleased the lord and might possibly please the woman. And there's the original story too, reduced now to the domestic and physical situation that it was and always is. Bethsheba may have broken the throne, but she also tied David to a kitchen chair. Delilah did something similar. There's more to be learned from the bible than God's dealing with the human race. There's also the dealings of women with men. There's the hard fact that nothing can be reconciled - at least not here.



LC: 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 and that's what I mean by Hallelujah. That regardless of what the impossibility of the situation is, there is a moment when you open your mouth and you throw open your arms and you embrace the thing and you just say 'Hallelujah! Blessed is the name.' And you can't reconcile it in any other way except in that position of total surrender, total affirmation.

http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/rte.html
monteo
2017-01-05 12:23:14 UTC
Is Hallelujah A Religious Song
anonymous
2015-08-07 06:20:11 UTC
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RE:

What is the song Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen about ?

What is the song Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen about ? Is it a religious song ? A mockery of religion ? I really love the song, but can't figure it out. Thanks for any help.
alexandropoul
2016-10-06 02:52:18 UTC
Is Hallelujah A Christian Song
anonymous
2016-03-16 15:28:16 UTC
I believe It's about love, i do know it's and it's a beautiful song but heres some extra details taken from wikipedia The original recording from 1984 is noted for containing explicit biblical references in the lyrics, alluding to David's harp-playing used to soothe King Saul (I Sam. 16:23), and his later affair with Bathsheba after watching her bathe from his roof. The line "she broke your throne and she cut your hair" is likely a reference to the source of Samson's strength from the Book of Judges. The third verse mentions "the name" (Tetragrammaton). In 1994, Cohen released a substantially different version on the album Cohen Live (recorded in 1988), retaining only the final verse from Various Positions. In this version, the lyrics became more explicitly sexual, and the music was slightly reworked. Many cover artists mix lyrics from both versions, and occasionally make other changes (such as Rufus Wainwright singing "holy dark" and Allison Crowe singing "Holy Ghost" rather than "holy dove"). As well as recording a cover of the original version, in February 2007 Alistair Griffin rewrote the lyrics to reference the soccer player Mark Viduka. Leonard Cohen gave permission for this to be released as a charity download in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. Welsh rock-outfit Lostprophets uses the song's setence "I've seen this room and I've walked this floor" in their track 'Can't Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won't Save You This Time)' on their latest album Liberation Transmission. It's not clear if this use is coincidental or not.
anonymous
2016-04-09 07:03:56 UTC
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Here is my interpretation of this song.....you may or may not agree. First off, the first 4 choruses of Hallelujah's are an unsure, disbelieving prayer. They refer to faith in God, but that faith is barely existent. A rough relationship has caused doubt and guilt about everything that is. 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 The whole song is told from the point of view of a doubting, depressed believer. Here he alludes to a relationship problem (line 3), possibly just expressing a newfound incompatibility (what he sees as beautiful, she can't appreciate). Also, lines 5 and 6 may refer to both his religious and personal struggle. He admits things aren't going well ("The minor fall"), and looks to the possibility of some divine reassurance ("the major lift"). The songwriter is "The baffled king" and out of desperation, he is "composing Hallelujah." Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah 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, she cut your hair And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah This first allusion to sex is a critique of his relationship. His lust and the sexuality of the relationship have caused him to lose his faith. As Samson, his "throne" and "hair" are elements of his faith, which this woman has stripped him of (I would guess that Samson allowed Delilah the opportunity to take advantage of him). "And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah." Again, his faith has been stolen away, so that he can no longer praise God. Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah 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 Lines 1-3 of this verse refer to his faith in God, whom he had to ponder and recognize before this relationship distracted him. Lines 4 and 5 pretty directly refer to a battle (a spiritual one maybe), with "your flag on the marble arch" symbolizing the pedestal that should have been reserved for God, but was instead used for this woman. "Love is not a victory march" is a humble admission of his fault. In line 6, he's left with nothing. It's a sad realization at the end of what was to be a great thing that it was all wrong. Nothing was gained, and in fact, "everything" may have been lost. Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah There was a time you let me know What's real and 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 verse gets into the psychology of sex quite a bit. Prior to the inception of sex into the relationship, "There was a time you let me know what's real and going on below." "But now..." (with the sexual element as a deterrant to true emotional correspondence) "you never show it to me, do you?" Line 4 is obviously referring directly to the act of sex (holyt dove --> orgasm? maybe) "Every breath we drew......Hallelujah" is celebrating the pleasure of sex. In the confines of this relationship, the "Hallelujah" expressed may be worship of a false idol (his partner, or more likely the act of sex itself). Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Maybe there's a God above And all I 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 Again, he questions his faith, which he has to do since his false idol is no longer a part of his life. I would submit that in this verse, he no longer sings to his lost love, but to the love he wants to rediscover (God). If this is the case, then "someone who outdrew you" could be interpreted as the woman he sings of, who served as an opposition to God. Lines 4-6, then, sound like a desperate prayer, a proclamation of a man's lack of faith. His proclamation, made out of the lowest state of shame is "a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah," but it's an honest form of worship. Here he bows down to God, confesses his error, and pleads for help. Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah These last intense Hallelujahs are a prayer, a supplication, and an earnest appeal. A sincere conviction and a new hint of hope can be heard.
Swope
2017-02-27 23:54:45 UTC
1


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