Lyrics (Jeff Buckley version):
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
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah...
Well your faith was strong but you needed proof You saw her bathing on the roof Her beauty and the moonlight overthrough ya 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 ya 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
There was a time when you let me know What's really going on below But now you never show that to me do ya 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 ya 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
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah...
this and the last verse the one forwardslash quoted are my favorites.
Buckley's neglect of them go to my theory of his blunted understanding and pedestrian character.
Pedro the lion's version (David Bazaan) contains them both.
but the think he gets it wrong too as a christian he make it about redemption.
and he wusses out and drops the sex verses his Christianity again?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
She accuses him of talking the name in vain (a sin, this references one of the 10 Commandments), and his response that he doesn't even know the name she is referring to, places the protagonist in the same shoes as Peter, denying Christ right before his execution (another betrayal). I guess the question is what does 'the name' refer to here? I interpret it this way. I feel like, as mentioned in the other posts, the man in this song views the man/woman union as a holy one in its ideal form (this is the 'Hallelujah'), and the woman does not see it this way. I get the sense in this verse that she accuses him of taking the name in vain, with the name being their love/relationship. I imagine he does this when it falls apart, and he curses it, but he says "So what if I did, really, what's it to you?" with the implication that she doesn't believe in that anyway. This framework is introduced in the very first verse "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?". Right at the outset, she is rejecting his world-view regarding the religious component of relationships. The last line of this verse tells me that the carnal/spiritual duality of relationships both have a greater truth to the protagonist, either the 'holy' or the 'broken' Hallejulia. Both have the blaze of light (truth), but just a blaze, as each is incomplete without the other half.
- You say that I profane the name
- no one even knows the name
- and if I did then whats it to ya,
- there is a blaze of light in every word
- It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
I think the song is akin to the two faces or a vase pictures.
It is a song about lost love and sex and a song about God.
the tradition is very old remember Shlomo wrote
I have taken off my robe - must I put it on again? I have washed my feet - must I soil them again? My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him. I arose to open for my lover, and my hands dripped with myrrh., on the handles of the lock.
And that is about God right?
it is in the bible. :)
that is a great song.
I've been meaning to read the Jewish holy books for years, as well as the Quran. I can never seem to find the time, and they arent exactly page-turners :) As an aside, in the song, when he sings about the Holy Ghost moving within them, I take this as the classic triumvirate of God-Jesus-holy Ghost, aka the Holy Trinity from the Bible. Does Jewish Dogma recognize that, or is that Christian-specific?
But if you are more specific with a particular verse, I can definitely opine whether it seems to be in line with Christian dogma.
You can hear the boats go by You can spend the night beside her And you know that she's half crazy But that's why you want to be there And she feeds you tea and oranges That come all the way from China And just when you mean to tell her That you have no love to give her Then she gets you on her wavelength And she lets the river answer That you've always been her lover And you want to travel with her And you want to travel blind And you know that she will trust you For you've touched her perfect body with your mind. And Jesus was a sailor When he walked upon the water And he spent a long time watching From his lonely wooden tower And when he knew for certain Only drowning men could see him He said "All men will be sailors then Until the sea shall free them" But he himself was broken Long before the sky would open Forsaken, almost human He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone And you want to travel with him And you want to travel blind And you think maybe you'll trust him For he's touched your perfect body with his mind. Now Suzanne takes your hand And she leads you to the river She is wearing rags and feathers From Salvation Army counters And the sun pours down like honey On our lady of the harbour And she shows you where to look Among the garbage and the flowers There are heroes in the seaweed There are children in the morning They are leaning out for love And they will lean that way forever While Suzanne holds the mirror And you want to travel with her And you want to travel blind And you know that you can trust her For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
- The idea that there is a carnal/spiritual duality is alien to Jewish thought it is a christian-greek pagan thing
Great synopsis.
So yeah. The ideal holy sexual/spiritual union is attempted, and ultimately not attained, and the man is left broken and stripped of his faith. Edit: the woman as temptress and cause of man's loss of his special relationship with god is referenced quite literally In the second verse. That is the biblical story of Samson and Delilah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delilah#Biblical_narrative what with the binding, and the cutting of his hair to remove his power and all
Of course since it is Cohen they are mutual metaphors Sex -> God and God->Sex .
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 don't think that interpreting Cohen's version as having an aspect of praising God is necessarily incorrect.I did my best, it wasn't much