Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah Meaning
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anonymous May 16th 2012, 16:49 report
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 -
anonymous Apr 23rd 2012, 00:06 report
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 -
anonymous Mar 29th 2012, 19:12 report
"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." -
Carol Butler Mar 5th 2012, 23:51 report
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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anonymous Feb 17th 2012, 03:43 report
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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anonymous Feb 5th 2012, 08:26 report
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. -
anonymous Jan 30th 2012, 08:13 report
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". -
anonymous Jan 4th 2012, 01:26 report
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". -
anonymous Dec 15th 2011, 02:16 report
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. -
anonymous Dec 11th 2011, 11:30 report
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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LolaSays Oct 14th 2011, 16:57 report
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. -
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Wil Roese Sep 26th 2011, 22:37 report
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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Stephen_Lau Sep 22nd 2011, 22:20 report
Cohen is confessing to infidelity. His song is to the woman he cheated on.
He begins by referencing King David at his weakest moment. He suggests that David never doubted God's love or forgivenss but needed proof...thus a higher motive for his sin...should he be forgiven, his faith is not in vain, God's love is reassured.
By inference he is suggesting that he was testing her love and forgiveness by his infidelity.
It is a half hearted argument...because even as he makes it he acknowledges that like David it weakened him (reference to Samson) and made him common (tied him to a kitchen chair..domestic)and that additionally the whole argument was lost on her since she never understood his art (you don't care for music)
In vs 3 Cohen moves to accusation. He reminds her that he lived without her before she came around...by inference could do so again. He claims her love was nothing more than a conquest (flag in marble, victory march)
In vx 4 he softens to remember their former intamacy...when they were at one, in unison, spiritually and sexually....he laments it's passing but blames her for withdrawing and becoming secrative.
By committing adultery Cohen has broken one of the 10 commandments...yet he chooses to defend the accusation that he broke one of the other 10 commandments by taking God's name in vain (Hallelujah means Praise Jah, a shorted form of the divine name)...he says "what's it to you?" He is simply not apologizing for his sins.
In the final verse he hides behind his honesty...at least I told you. 'I couldn't feel so I tried to touch' is an attempt to offer some sort of explaination she may understand...but whether she does or doesn't he will not allow himself to be judged by her..he will face whatever judgement the future brings confident that he is justified. -
anonymous Aug 30th 2011, 03:35 report
As much as I can appreciate the idea of religion being the basis for the song because of the word hallelujah, A hallelujah is simply a song of praise and thanks. Reference to all of the religious connotations does not necessarily mean this is a religious song. the positive references hallelujah it is simply a positive need of praise and thanks. the negative connotations refer to singing out and sorrow crying out in pain. similar to those times we feel the need to cry. The need to feel the loss of what we once had. I'm not referring to the ideas of depression. I'm referring to those times when necessary to mourn the loss of something you once had. My case in point, my brother died 3 years ago. I spent my evening remembering the loss the pain the want of memory. what I felt inside was my definition a hallelujah a song of thanks and praise not necessarily to God but by definitiony thanks and praise. Thus a cold and broken hallelujah. And for those who think I might be trying to keep disturbing about religion,know this, I believe in God deeply. a hallelujah is not just a praise to God but also just simply a praise of thanks.
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anonymous Aug 1st 2011, 17:24 report
These lyrics are different than the ones I've found/heard sang. I think different singers change them based on their own feelings. Personally, I think the first stanza is about David and Bathsheba, while the second is Samson and Delilah. The baffled king singing Hallelujah is when David realized he was wrong. He was blinded by tunnel vision of 'love' and sinned against God. He didn't even realize he'd sinned until an aid told him a parable. He then let out a praise to God and asked forgiveness. Everyone thinks that in the second stanza when the narrator says 'She drew the Hallelujah', it means they had sex. But instead I think it's when Samson realized he messed up. When he was strengthless, he cried out to God for God's help. The third always seems to vary, with the fourth (if there is one)being a closing. The closing always seems to suggest they all admitted they screwed up and they're admitting it and praising God. It's a song about how we all mess up, and when we do we always cry out to God. That's the 'broken hallelujah.' It's broken because we are broken. And the line (in the 3rd stanza) saying about 'taking the name in vain' is referring to the people who get mad when people call on God when they mess up. The narrator's asking 'why do you care?' It's saying that God doesn't care if we praise Him when we're on top of the world, or falling when we make a mistake. God just wants us to come to Him. And no one's praise is any more special to Him than anyone else's, because He loves us all.
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anonymous Jul 2nd 2011, 17:17 report
A man's love for God or for woman is the active embrace of faith and commitment for which he proclaims Hallelujah.
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anonymous Jun 30th 2011, 21:19 report
I think the general meaning suggests that we (mankind) have fallen from grace, in regards to our once beautiful relationship with Christ/God/etc (beginning of song). As we bask in the glorious and mysterious temptations the world offers, we sink further into that "broken hallelujah," and henceforth are ill content with our inner conscience for letting evil/sin (the sexuality of the song, in reference to the woman's actions towards him) grasp hold over us. Thus, man (woman) will revel in his (her) ill made decisions, making the daily task of fighting one's inner "demons" the revelationary epitome of such a "fallen" state (mindset) that is near impossible to overcome without returning to that freedom one once had (freedom from self and from worldly desires).
Cohen is (as I like to believe), attempting to convince himself of a certain 'truth' he thinks he believes to be absolute...but questioning the absolute always seems to come into play, thus provoking his conscience and making him ill at ease with life. -
anonymous Jun 21st 2011, 14:58 report
This song has a great deal of meaning to me, as it's something that I can relate to.
You see, I am a recovering addict struggling with sex addiction. What I see in this song is the juxtaposition between what so many seek in life, that is spiritual realization, but too often sacrifice it for the quick and easy carnal satisfaction.
Don't get me wrong, that parts good, but the problem rises in the fact that one cannot use sex to satisfy spirituality, and for those who try to do so it leaves them worse for wear, or those like me, in tatters when they hit rock bottom, thus the "broken hallelujah"
The best part of the song for me is the ending, where the artist chooses not to give up hope, to still seek God however they can. -
Asidian Jun 20th 2011, 09:54 report
I think that it's important to take the meaning from the references in this song, but simply because it contains allusions to religious stories by no means makes this a song about God, or any of the tales mentioned.
This song is about love- its good parts and its bad- and the gradual recognition by the narrator that, as the old saying goes, it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
I'll break the meaning as I see it apart by verse below:
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?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
In the first verse, the early stage of the relationship, the narrator and the woman he is falling in love with are still getting to know what one another are like. The songwriter reveals that what is important to him- music, as evidenced by the fact that he writes and performs it, as well as the fact that he, like David, seems to consider it a gift worthy of God- is not an interest shared by his lover-to-be. He wants to offer up the secret of it, wants to win her with something he feels is worthy of her, and is "baffled" by her indifference to his tribute.
The contrast between the first two lines and the third- the Lord is pleased by this secret, sacred thing, but she is not- offers an almost tongue-in-cheek aside, another reason for the bafflement. If not this, what can he do to please her? The "Hallelujah" here is not literally for god; in this verse, he is writing the praise, and the song, for the woman he is beginning to 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 her kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
The narrator believes that he has truly fallen in love; he has faith that it is so. He does not feel completely convinced until he sees her in a moment of striking beauty, however, the result strong enough to "overthrow" him and provide his "proof."
The cutting of hair here is not literal; it references the story of Samson and Delilah and is used as a metaphor. The woman he loves metaphorically cuts his hair, stealing away the narrator's emotional strength as a parallel to the way Samson's physical strength was stolen in the tale. She has completely gained control of his heart. The "Hallelujah" here is one of joy- he is overcome with love.
Maybe I've 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 its a broken hallelujah
However, he has been in love before. He suspects that this time will end the same as all the rest. He knows how it will go; he's seen it before. He "used to live alone," presumably as opposed to a time before this when he lived with another lover. He's seen her displaying their love like a flag, a "victory march," but he knows better. Love will grow cold, and the "Hallelujah," from the previous verse will become broken.
There was a time you let me know
what's really going on below
but now you never show it to me do you
remember when I moved in you
the holy dove was moving too
and every breath we drew was hallelujah
As he suspected, they have begun to grow apart. There was a time when they were close; she used to tell him things, show him her true feelings. She "let [him] know what's really going on below." They used to share each others' bodies, and they were so in love that they gave thanks for the relationship with every breath they took.
Maybe there's a god above
but 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 its a broken hallelujah
In the end, he feels that love has taught him nothing but how to turn on people who have turned on him first- "how to shoot somebody who outdrew you." It's not pleasant, or enlightened- it's that cold and broken "Hallelujah" he predicted it would become.
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
"The name" the narrator talks about here is not the name of God, although as with the rest of the song he cleverly slips a religious reference into this, too. He's speaking of love. The woman- his lover, or perhaps ex-lover by now- claims that he took the name of love "in vain," but he claims he does not even know what love is. But why, he asks, does that matter? There is a "blaze of light" to what he's saying, no matter whether he understands love or not- whether the "Hallelujah" he utters is one of joy or the broken one he predicted it would become, there is an honesty to it, a "light."
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
Here, the narrator admits that he has failed in the relationship. His best "wasn't much." After he falls out of love with the woman in the song, he dallies with other women; he "couldn't feel," his love any more, had no emotional connection to his lover, "so [he] tried to touch," or seek physical pleasure elsewhere. He admits it, and owns up to what he's done.
However, after the slow downward descent of this love story and subsequent unraveling, he goes on to add one final, uplifting remark. Even though everything has gone wrong, when all is said and done- when he metaphorically stands before God for judgment- he will not regret having been in love, despite the loss. There will be nothing on his tongue but words of gratitude for what has happened.
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Hallelujah lyrics
Hallelujah is considered:
Songs with Religious Themes
Songs about Love
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