Hallelujah is a Hebrew word meaning "Praise you, Jehovah" or "Glory to the Lord". Leonard Cohen, the late Canadian singer, wrote the song for his 1984 album Various Positions but it really became popular after it was featured in the 2000 film Shrek. It has been much recorded including versions by John Cale, Jeff Buckley, Willie Nelson, Rufus Wainwright, k.d.lang, Susan Boyle and Alexander Burke. But, after Leonard Cohen's own version, my favourite one is by the fragile-voiced English folk-singer Kathryn Williams. There have been over 300 recordings of the song and Bob Dylan has performed it on stage.
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| Leonard Cohen, 1934 - 2016 |
Cohen's version really emphasises the
poetical nature of his work. As with Bob Dylan many of his lyrics stand up
on their own as poetry. The song was voted into the top ten of greatest songs by
songwriters in the British magazine Q.
It is often stated that lyrics and poetry differ because
lyrics were written to be sung and it's true that reading aloud the lyrics of
many wonderful songs just doesn't work as poetry. I think there should be a
newly-coined word for song-lyrics that are somewhere in between because
great lyrics are often underrated. I hope recognition of Bob Dylan as a Nobel
Laureate brings acceptance of this closer.
Cohen, a notorious perfectionist, is said to have originally
written 80 verses for the song and has performed almost
totally different versions on stage. This variety is reflected in many of the
cover versions which allows the song to be interpreted in an assortment of ways
from religious iconography to explicit sexual meanings. I would say that
Cohen's recorded version contains both of those elements at once.
Probably my favourite verses are the fabulous first and
second ones:
Well 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.
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 ya
She tied you to her kitchen chair
And she broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to her kitchen chair
And she broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
The second verse contains reference to a pair of notorious biblical
women: Bathsheba ("You saw her bathing on the roof")
and Delilah ("....she broke your throne and she cut your
hair.") I find it unsurprising that so many singers have recorded this
song and sing it live on stage because it is so immaculately constructed -
perhaps I should have said 'conceived'. Leonard would have known what I meant
by that......
Interestingly the fourth and fifth lines of the first verse actually
describe, musically, what the song is doing as those lyrics are sung. The
accompanying chords are often used in hymns. Also, it's in the relatively rare
12/8 time signature. That is, if you like, a regular four-beat bar with
each beat divided in a triple rhythm.
9 comments:
I HAVE BEEN HAVING PROBLEMS WHEN TRYING TO COMMENT ON MANY OF THE BLOGS THAT I USUALLY VISIT!
I will be trying to sort it out this week. My new computer should be up and running shortly, so I might be a bit slow in responding to any comments here! (Hopefully not.)
When I met my then-boyfriend, now-husband in 1969, he wanted to buy me a very special present before he went back to Sydney. Clever lad that he was, he bought a book of Leonard Cohen's poetry. My favourite performer then, and still my favourite now! Since I couldn't marry Cohen, I knew I wanted to marry Joe :)
"Well 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?" etc is also one of my very favourites. I am not sure about the quality of Cohen's voice, but the words, music and three backup singers made the songs very special.
Naturally we went to each of his Australian tours!
Hi Bazza - wonderful post ... and Cohen is a favourite of mine too - I must look for some of his poetry ... I need to read this again - which I will do - cheers Hilary
PS good luck at sorting the computer out ...
Hi bazza,
As Hels hints at above, I believe Cohen was an impecunious poet before he actually began to write songs, so in a way, it's no wonder that his lyrics can often stand alone. "Hallelujah" has been covered so many times and played so often at so many occasions, that I tend to get the feeling that it suffers somewhat from overfamiliarity, great song though it still is. Because of this, my own personal favourite Cohen songs are things like "The Partisan", "Famous Blue Raincoat" and "Everybody Knows". I also saw the lyrics to "Democracy" once printed in "The Observer" newspaper and found them still startlingly relevant.
Very Best Wishes,
David.
Hels: I'm happy that this post had some extra relevance for you. At the time you talk of I was very much into Dylan, whom I have seen three times. I never saw Leonard Cohen because I mistakenly thought he couldn't sing well. I now know that it's the delivery that counts! When Joe went back to Sydney, I suppose Syd rejected him?
Hilary: I would presume that we people of "a certain age" are more likely to be fans of Leonard Cohen. However, I know many younger people who also really like his work. Computer is behaving at the moment but it's time will come very shortly. (I am trying to use less exclamation marks but I was tempted just then).
David: Yes, I had read that Cohen started writing tunes to his verse in order to get them heard. I agree that Hallelujah has become a bit overplayed but when I hear a new version I listen to hear how this or that person has treated it and which lyrics they have chosen.
My favourite Cohen songs are Suzanne and Sisters of Mercy although generally it's the one that I'm listening to at the time.
Joe was still an undergrad when he came to Melbourne to do one term at a hospital here. He had to go back and do sixth year in Sydney, after our bonding over Leonard Cohen :)
My favourite songs were So Long Marianne, Chelsea Hotel, Dance Me to the End of Love, I'm Your Man, Waiting for the Miracle and Sisters of Mercy.
Hels: These songs have much more of a relevance to our lives than merely musical ones it seems.
How could I have left out one of my own favourite songs - Bird on a Wire
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