Lyr Add: Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

11 Nov 16 - 10:11 AM (#3819859)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: Mrrzy

And by Shrek.

I had no idea he'd written this.

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11 Nov 16 - 12:06 PM (#3819886)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: GUEST,Peter Laban

Several commonly included verses omitted I think. And the odd less common, depending on the versions you listen to.

Here is a another set of words:

I heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the lord
But you don't really care for music, do you
Well it goes like this the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing hallelujah

Well 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

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

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

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

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

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



I am always amazed people don't seem to listen to songs and realise what they are about. This is a good example of one of those songs. I remember driving in the car one time when a choir of Irish ten year olds came on for some religious occasion or other and they went the whole

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


apparently without the choir leader blinking an eye about what she had her pupils sing. But it said 'Hallelujah' so it must must be about god and what have you, right?

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11 Nov 16 - 01:23 PM (#3819911)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: Joe Offer

This tablet has neither keyboard nor mouse, so I can't make the crosslink group clickable:


http://mudcat.org/threadgroup.cfm?threadgroupid=2649

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Got it for you. -Mod

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12 Nov 16 - 06:17 AM (#3820055)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: GUEST,Pete from seven stars link

Not sure what the problem is peter...the verse seems to me to be about having a struggle about retaining belief inGod. Be that so, I would have no problem with 10 yr olds knowing some people have struggles with faith. The book of job would be a similar biblical example. But perhaps you see something else in the lyric ?

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12 Nov 16 - 08:33 AM (#3820099)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: GUEST,Ed

Pete,

You might want to listen to this version...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx3d6F8vd-w

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12 Nov 16 - 10:56 AM (#3820129)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: McGrath of Harlow

I read he wrote 80 verses for this, and just picked a few to sing. That, room for an awaful lot of versions.

The point is, peter, the man was a poet, and poems most times don't just have one meaning. Even when they seem to. Like Holy Books.

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12 Nov 16 - 11:52 AM (#3820138)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: GUEST,Peter Laban

Hallelujah is remarkably pliable text that means many things to many people. But Cohen sometimes spoke how he created a 'secular hallelujah', in spite of the rich biblical references. And, given the recurring themes of his work, I think it is not too hard to figure out what this particular verse is about.

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12 Nov 16 - 11:58 AM (#3820139)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: McGrath of Harlow

As with the Song of Songs, it's both at the same time. At least that's how I read it.

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12 Nov 16 - 12:17 PM (#3820144)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: Jeri

Not hard to figure it out, Peter.
I'm sure he meant it to be about David & Bathsheba, and about sex, and about relationships. Once a song gets out in the world, though, it had different meaning for different people. I personally find the belief that just because the word "hallelujah" is in it, it must be a religious song, a bit amusing, and a bit annoying. Suuuure, the Jewish Zen Buddhist monk wrote a Christian hymn. But, like I said, it's open to interpretation

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12 Nov 16 - 12:22 PM (#3820147)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: meself

And as with the Song of Songs, if you were to have a ten-year-old stand up in church and read passages from it, you would probably choose them with care ... !

_________________

Hallelujah is not a religious song in the conventional sense, but it is a spiritual song, undoubtedly. But choirs should not be allowed to sing it. That is blasphemy.

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12 Nov 16 - 12:23 PM (#3820148)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: GUEST,Peter Laban

Well, that was my point really, amusing, but that's really as far as it went. And it was the reason for mentioning it, my sense of amusement at hearing that particular verse (that is not used in all versions), in that context.

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12 Nov 16 - 12:39 PM (#3820149)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: meself

Yeah, I got that. If you didn't laugh, you'd cry. Or at least, I would!

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12 Nov 16 - 03:25 PM (#3820178)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: Joe Offer

Yesterday, All Things Considered on National Public Radio had an interesting piece on the song. Worth a listen.

-Joe-

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A transcript:

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

We learned yesterday of the death of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. He was 82 years old. He's now known best for the song "Hallelujah."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HALLELUJAH")

LEONARD COHEN: (Singing) Now I've heard there was a secret chord that David played, and it pleased the Lord.

SHAPIRO: It took more than a decade for the song to find its audience. Alan Light wrote the book "The Holy Or The Broken" about the unlikely ascent of "Hallelujah," a song Cohen released as his career seemed to be winding down.

ALAN LIGHT: Through the '70s and into the '80s, it was a bit of a gradual decline in interests. And by the time it was 1984 and he recorded the "Various Positions" record, which included "Hallelujah," he turned it in to Columbia Records and they rejected the album.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HALLELUJAH")

UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) Hallelujah.

LIGHT: Came out on a very small indie label to virtually no attention and no acclaim. He had written 40, 50, 70 verses for this song. And he just couldn't figure out exactly what the song was. John Cale from The Velvet Underground saw Leonard perform and saw him do one of these versions of "Hallelujah" and thought that might be an interesting song to do.

So he asked Leonard, can you send me over the lyrics so I get it right? And apparently they sent him pages and pages of lyrics. And Leonard just sort of said, see what you like in here and you figure it out.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HALLELUJAH")

JOHN CALE: (Singing) Maybe there's a God above. All I ever learned from love was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you.

LIGHT: A couple years later, a kid named Jeff Buckley is house sitting for a friend in Brooklyn and sees this Leonard tribute record on the shelves and puts it on. And here's John Cale's version of "Hallelujah." And he starts to work it into his own show.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HALLELUJAH")

JEFF BUCKLEY: (Singing) But remember when I moved in you and the holy dove was moving too, and every breath we drew was Hallelujah.

LIGHT: After Jeff died in 1997, his recording of "Hallelujah" sort of became his own elegy.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HALLELUJAH")

BUCKLEY: (Singing) Hallelujah.

LIGHT: September 11 comes and Jeff Buckley's recording of "Hallelujah" really became sort of an anthem in the aftermath, emotional shorthand for melancholy and for sadness.

SHAPIRO: That's writer Alan Light. Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" has been covered by at least 300 different artists.

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15 Nov 16 - 06:46 PM (#3820837)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: GUEST,Jump Jump Music

Folklorist friend just showed me this sight.
Can I ask this question here?

The repeated Hallelujahs, original melody or traditional hymn?

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16 Nov 16 - 07:55 AM (#3820938)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: GUEST,humper

usual cohen rubbish

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16 Nov 16 - 09:02 AM (#3820949)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: David C. Carter

"usual cohen rubbi
sh"   IT's always great to hear a wonderful,articulate,in depth view of an artist's work;so refreshing!Thanks'''Guest'humper

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16 Nov 16 - 10:18 AM (#3820969)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: Pete from seven stars link

Well there you go , I would never have thought of it like that at all , but if you know that was what he intended , I can see the veiled reference now .

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17 Nov 16 - 03:08 AM (#3821096)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: GUEST,Peter Laban

Sorry Pete, there's nothing 'veiled' about :

There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never even show it 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

especially if you're even slightly familiar with the themes of Cohen's work. Next someone will come along and they always thought 'Sisters of Mercy' is about nuns.

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17 Nov 16 - 02:06 PM (#3821200)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: GUEST,humper

isn't it?

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22 Nov 16 - 08:45 PM (#3822175)
Subject: beautiful renditions of Halleluia
From: GUEST,mg

here are some nice ones. it seems to be almost an anthem lately...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7C2MKoBL7Q

russian children

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-4JmRnv_nE
welsh teens and children

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22 Nov 16 - 09:54 PM (#3822184)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: meself

Oh, if only the Powers-That-Be had listened to poor Leonard, and put a moratorium on his cri-de-coeur ....

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23 Nov 16 - 03:22 PM (#3822308)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: HALLELUJAH by Leonard Cohen
From: GUEST,Pete from seven stars link

If you say so peter . I am not over familiar with his work so it was not obvious to me

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