Hallelujah

I go into and out of insane obsessions with this fucking song.

Sullivan had to go and start me up again today.


That woman is unreal.


I can't find a good live version of Buckley's, the recordings all suck. I have one on DVD that's pretty sweet.


John Cale.


What the hell, she's that fucking good.


The original.

There are 15+ verses of this, I've heard, and different covers have used different groups. Cohen himself felt it was an uplifting song, given the last couple verses below, but others have left it on a downer note, skipping those. Buckley's interpretation is probably the most well-known of the downer interpretations.


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

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, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

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

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

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there's a God above,
As for me, all I've ever seemed to learn from love
Is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you.
Yeah but it's not a complaint that you hear tonight,
It's not the laughter of someone who claims to have seen the light
No it's a cold and it's a very lonely Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, 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

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, 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


Breathtaking.

This was the song that started the famous conversation between Cohen and Bob Dylan, where Dylan asked how long it took to write. "Over a year," said Cohen. "How long did it take you to write {so-and-so Dylan classic}?"

Dylan's reply? "Fifteen minutes."

That must have been dispiriting.