Album: Various Positions (1984)

Charted: 36 59

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• (one, two, three)
  
  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, now the major lift
  The baffled king composing hallelujah
  
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  Hallelujah, 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
  
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  
  Now maybe, maybe there's a god above
  As for me, all I ever learned from love
  Is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
  But it's not a cry that you hear tonight
  No, it's not some pilgrim who claims to have seen the light
  It's cold and it's a very broken hallelujah, hallelujah
  
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  
  Neil Larsen on the Hammond-22
  
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  
  Baby, I've been here before
  I know this room, and I've walked this floor
  You see, I used to live alone before I knew you
  And I've seen your flag on a marble arch
  But listen love, love is not some kind of victory march
  No, it's a cold like I said, very lonely hallelujah
  
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  
  There was time you let me know
  What's really going on below
  Ah but now you never show it to me, do you?
  I remember when I moved in you
  And the, the holy dove was moving too, yes
  And every single breath that we drew was hallelujah
  
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  
  I did my best, it wasn't much
  I couldn't feel, so I learned to touch
  I've told the truth, I did not come
  All the way to Glastonbury to fool you
  And even though it all went wrong
  I'll stand right here, before the lord of song
  With nothing, nothing on my tongue but hallelujah
  
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  
  Hallelujah, hallelujah
  Hallelujah (oh), hallelujah
  
  Thanks so much friends Writer/s: Leonard Cohen
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 5

• Wordpower from CaliforniaHallelujah is indeed about King David and Sampson and powerful men of faith who undo themselves by giving in to lust. King David is one of the most conflicted characters in the Old Testament, a talented harpist who really was less concerned about music than himself and power, and whose affair with Bathsheba, whom he first espies bathing on a roof in the song as in the Bible, was disastrous for him. He is the "baffled king," a powerful and idolized individual but also flawed, and torn between spiritual devotion and human struggles. If you look at this song and think it has nothing to do with religion you shouldn't be commenting. Likewise the image of Sampson being tied to a chair --a kitchen chair in the song, being a place where a woman traditionally is in control, at least back when this was written. This again repeats the biblical imagery of lust -- therefore the "hallelujahs," at once spiritual, life affirming, tragic, and suggesting sexual release. This is a song about individuals torn between spiritual devotion and human desires, as was Cohen himself, a very spiritual man who was Jewish. The Old Testament, unlike the Christian bible, is chock full of sexual imagery, celebrating the relationship between earthly and divine love, which can be confusing.
• Mike Williams from Albeautiful song
• Justafan from LouisianaI think Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen has nothing to do with religion. It's about a fiery relationship where he watches a young woman and dreams to be with her. When they are finally together, they both have so much passion. It talks about she tied him to a kitchen chair. Breaking his thrown and pulling his hair was his 'exploding'. Just listen again, you will understand. Sounds like the relationship was forbidden, but the chemistry was more than he could take.
• Lee from CanadaLeonard Cohen check biblical references? What a hoot! King David had the affair with Bathsheba and Delilah cut Samson’s hair.
• Pibblemom from UsaShould have checked the biblical references. He confused David and Sampson.

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