Hallelujah

Jeff Buckley's Cover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIF4_Sm-rgQ

Leonard Cohen's Original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJTiXoMCppw

                This week, I'm writing about a song that I've loved for years, but never spent the time to really understand. It's a song I'm sure many of you've heard of, and multiple covers of the song exist. The name of the song is Hallelujah, and though it was originally written and sung by a man named Leonard Cohen, the cover by Jeff Buckley, an American Singer-songwriter and guitarist who passed in 1997, is my favorite version. The cover was released in Buckley's only completed album Grace in 1994.

                Okay! Onto the actual song, why it's important to me, and what it means.

                The cover is lengthy, at 6:53, but every minute transfixes you with his masterful, yet subtle guitar skills and the beautiful lyrics slightly adjusted to suit Buckley's style. He puts his heart into every word, and because of this, the lyrics seem to come alive in my mind more than simply reading them. Whenever I feel the need to calm down and unwind, I listen to Hallelujah.

                 The first two verses have multiple allusions to the Bible, which is meaningful in itself because of my strong faith (Though I had to brush up on my knowledge of the story of King David and the Nazarites). The main meaning I deciphered from the lyrics though, was that love isn't always smiles and happiness, but pain and sadness as well. Real love isn't supposed to be all happiness because that isn't realistic, and Buckley illustrates that point by saying "love is not a victory march…And 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." By working through the pain and sadness together, however, love becomes stronger in the process. The lyrics mean a lot to me because I'm able to work through hard times and sadness with my relationships with my Girlfriend, Youth Group, and family. Their love encompasses not only our happy, perfect moments but our painful ones as well. Without them, I would be a total train-wreck. :)

                Lyrics:

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

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 her kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah...

Baby I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor (you know)
I used to live alone before I knew you
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
and love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, 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 you?
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah...

Maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
And 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, hallelujah...
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah...
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah

Grace (1994)