Hallelujah roughly = "Praise God" and in this song shows a persistence of that notion in the midst of life being lived. It seems each stanza is a grouping of pairs, in which there are many allusions to biblical characters (David & Songwriting, David & Bathsheba, Samson & Delilah) as well as more ambiguous struggles that could apply to anyone (War & Love, Sex & the Holy Spirit, the Vain & Holy, Attempts & Failures, Wounds & Persistence). Cohen packed enough universal themes into this gem to move nearly everyone.

And I agree, it's hard to beat Buckley on this one.

Sent by Scott | 6:00 PM ET | 08-19-2008

Every Leonard Cohen song is about the same thing: love that wasn't strong enough to bridge the divide between people. I swear, no matter what he's singing about on the surface, he's always singing about that underneath.

Sent by Jordan Hirsch | 6:03 PM ET | 08-19-2008

To answer the question if I have ever though "I love that song; what the hell is it about?" The answer is pretty simple:

Pretty much every single Radiohead song. I know almost every lyric to every song they have ever written but still have no idea what any of it means.

Sent by Bryant | 6:07 PM ET | 08-19-2008

May I suggest my favorite version?

David Bazan -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BULNO7CwDDE

Sent by Michael Miller | 6:47 PM ET | 08-19-2008

My favorite performance is this one by Allison Crowe:

http://www.allisoncrowe.com/AllisonCroweTidingsHallelujah.mp3

What is it about?

This review sums it up (and better than I could): "Crowe's version is a living thing, a meditation and a celebration and a benediction."

Hallelujah, and thanks, Leonard Cohen.

Sent by Davida | 9:01 PM ET | 08-19-2008

p.s. there's also a video of Allison Crowe performing "Hallelujah" - it's @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIMOdVXAPJ0

(though, the audio version by this Canadian marvel remains my favorite)

btw, I left out the 8 in my email last post - sorry! D

Sent by Davida | 9:11 PM ET | 08-19-2008

Hats off to Scott for probably the shortest and best explanation of the song I've read. This discussion wouldn't be complete however, without witnessing The Man today performing the song. Here is Leonard at the Big Chill about three weeks ago.

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_o_rUeWioo

Marie
www.speakingcohen.com

Sent by Marie | 10:02 PM ET | 08-19-2008

John Cale is the definitive singer of this compositio, although each version seems to contribute something very unique to how the song feels. I believe Cale's version makes me reflect upon how spiritual the song is whether it has to do with love, loss, life or death. As I come to the end of my marriage it leaves me with sense of peace even though my life feels that a hurricane has hit. But none of that, just know that when I leave this earth they can play all of the versions in my wake.

Sent by Brian Dyer | 11:31 PM ET | 08-19-2008

I'm just now starting to listen to Cohen's music.

As a religious person I can't help but think about the theme of God's Grace in this song. The second to last verse states simply and directly very Lutheran idea of our relationship with God. We do our best, it can never be enough. We speak truth, and in the end our actions don't amount for a hill of beans. Your faith is strong but we all need proof, and faith to be true faith requires a lack of concrete proof. It drains your strength, and when it's gone it's like your Sampson without his hair. All we can do is take our attempts to be good and stand before the Lord, sing praise, and ask for mercy.

Now, I'm not here to debate religion and science. I know that on the surface the song is about the love and woman. For me this and it's album mate "If it be Your Will" are two of the greatest modern hymns ever written.

Sent by Eric L | 12:36 AM ET | 08-20-2008

I'm incredibly attached to the John Cale version on Fragments Of A Rainy season

Sent by anon | 2:23 AM ET | 08-20-2008

Just listened to the Alison Crowe rendition. It's nauseating. And the David Bazan one adds nothing to the original.

It is a great song, but how many TV dramas have ended a season with this song? It's just become so contrived. As soon as I hear the opening bars on a TV programme I turn off in disgust at their lack of originality.

Sent by May Bell | 5:35 AM ET | 08-20-2008

I saw Brandi Carlile open for Jamie Cullum at the Tabernacle in Atlanta two years ago. She blew me away. Sang this near the end of her set. Beautiful.

Sent by djl | 9:45 AM ET | 08-20-2008

I agree this song has become completely contrived--how many times was it on The OC???? I'm surprised All Songs Considered is beating this dead horse.

Never saw the OC but really, you shouldn't let a TV show kill a remarkable song...just read the words or listen to Buckley and follow the words, it is so well crafted and well interpreted. When it randomly came up on my iPod the other day it felt so powerful all over again. Sorry but this is not a dead horse.

bob

Sent by gtb | 10:18 AM ET | 08-20-2008

Coleridge said, "The first object of a writer is to be understood." Same with a lyric writer.
Since Lennon/McCartney (mostly Paul) and Bob Dylan we've had generations of songwriters that almost make sense but don't quite. This is just another example of images strung together. And unlike better surrealism or dadaism, where the nonsense is done well, these are just done badly. These emperors have no clothes.
We hold on to these songs because the music moves us - and its natural for listeners to fill in the missing meaning to fit whatever they like. But great art doesn't need help to explain it. It explains itself.

Sent by Tom Hendricks | 11:15 AM ET | 08-20-2008

I'm not sure what it is about, but I can listen to the Jeff Buckley version on repeat, again and again and again.

Sent by Elizabeth | 12:54 PM ET | 08-20-2008

Rufus all day long.

Sent by Seth Lieberman | 1:28 PM ET | 08-20-2008

A friend of mine once put it differently: Written by Cohen, perfected by Buckley and demolished by Wainwright.

I couldn't agree more. I've seen him perform it live two separate times, and each time he forgot a line. What a joke. It's like he has no appreciation for the great music he was lucky enough to perform.

Sent by Erick | 2:01 PM ET | 08-20-2008

Ecclesiastes.
Solomon.

Sent by Doug | 2:20 PM ET | 08-20-2008

Sorry, Bob. Even though I love reading this blog, I have to agree that this topic has been exhausted. See here:

http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/2006/05/hallelujah.html
http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/2008/02/mokb-covers-project-hallelujah-repost.html

There are over 150 comments to the first posting and another 30 on the repost (with additional versions).

I'll read the posts, at first glance it is more about the many versions, I'm more interested in the listener interpretation, not the various artist interpretations.
I hear you though. thanks

bb

Sent by Pablo | 3:23 PM ET | 08-20-2008

I am only familiar with the versions of Cohen, Buckley and Rufus Wainwright on this song but I am pleased to know that so many other artists were inspired to interpret it as it was incredibly, penetratingly vivid to me when I first obsessed over the Jeff Buckley version 10 years or so ago. Surprised to have missed the John Cale version and will definitely seek out that and the Brandi Carlisle one. A few people have commented on these 3 versions. For me it breaks down like this. Cohen's is about the poetry, Buckley's about the emotion behind the words and Rufus is about...well Rufus is really always only about one thing, the immensely talented, immensely self-absorbed...Rufus! as for whether this is a "dead horse" because it's been on teen television shows well... you are probably too old to be watching those shows anyway. Truly though, great compositions are meant to be reinterpreted again and again and discussed for their merits and mysteries. I definitely don't think that a writer has an obligation to make himself completely understood to all in order to compose a work of "great art". If a writer leads us to fascination, reflection and emotion without making the message crystal clear, is that not art?

As for the interpreters, it quite often happens that the artist is not the caliber of the material (s)he chooses and that can indeed be nauseating when you feel that something dear to you has been "demolished" (I think chewed up and regurgitated more specifically in this case)Sometimes a classic song needs to be demolished to be rejuvenated. For example Devo's version of "Satisfaction" totally revived my interest in that great song and I love both versions. How about Tina Turner's "Rollin' on the River"? She stomped on John Fogerty and they both came out the better for it. There is a Jazz Canon of constantly reinterpreted songs from Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer and others and it's always fun to hear contemporary artists brush off one of these chestnuts. It's an ongoing dialogue we are having with the greats of the past who we admire. No dead horses here.

Sent by CWOODS | 4:46 PM ET | 08-20-2008

It's hard to sum this song up in only a few words...but I think that if you look at the lyrics, the "Hallelujah" throughout the song is used as a noun. If you go through each verse and try to figure out what "Hallelujah" in each is you can actually find out a lot. It's your essence, your soul, your happiness.

I always thought of it as a song to sum up the end of a relationship and realizing that you lost yourself to the other person. A relationship that never was right. But it was so human, it's the oldest story in the book!

Sent by Mary E. | 6:55 PM ET | 08-20-2008

The song is about what you need it to be about. That is what a great song writing is.It will create different images for everyone.My hero John Lennon said it best to the homeless man he invited in for breakfast in the Imagine documentary.

Sent by Larry Cann | 8:08 PM ET | 08-20-2008

Wow. I didn't know David Bazan did a version of it. I like it a lot.

I know it's heresy, but I've never been much of a fan of Buckley. Sorry.

Sent by Mark P | 10:34 PM ET | 08-20-2008

It's a glorious song and is uniquely suited to interpretation by different voices. I agree with the earlier comments - there's no dead horse here!

I've witnessed quite a number of individual artists perform Hallelujah live, Rufus Wainwright, Allison Crowe, kd lang, Brandi Carlile, among them, and several choirs.

None has moved me as much as did Allison Crowe's concert performance. She communicates emotion in such a direct, visceral, way. I listen most to Mahalia Jackson and Billie Holiday and not popular genre singers. Crowe, to myself and quite a few others, is a modern, and rock, voice that touches the soul. Beautiful and powerful.

For many, Hallelujah's a deeply personal song there's a bond to specific versions and styles. Often, it seems, to the first version we hear and love. It's a song that inspires such devotion even fanaticism.

Though I've not had opportunity to see him perform the song live, the videos of Leonard Cohen at Glastonbury and elsewhere this Summer, performing Hallelujah, are wonderful.

As for the song's meaning - just tplay it!

Sent by Dean M | 7:03 PM ET | 08-21-2008

Although some people think that this song has been blogged about one too many times, perhaps we should all look further than the meaning. I read through a lot of the explanations of the song, and none of them interested me all that much. What I think is more interesting above all is the power that music has to impact us on such a level its actual meaning is not important. I think the first question Bob asks us is the most interesting. I think striving to understand each verse of this song takes away some of the beauty and power that impacts certain people who are content to just listen.

Sent by Jennifer Mirocha | 8:57 PM ET | 08-21-2008

its about women cheating on husbands (Samson and Delila). Aptly used in "Lord of War"

Sent by Jay | 3:19 AM ET | 08-22-2008

this is a great blog! Very Interesting and inspiring as well. Keep up the good work!

Sent by Busby SEO Challenge | 3:12 PM ET | 08-22-2008

I agree with Mark P - always thought Buckley's version was too precious. I'm more of a Leonard Cohen fan, but the ubiquity of Buckley's version has killed this song for me. I never need to hear this song again. Wow, having re-read what I just wrote, this post is negative, but it's also honest.

Sent by Ed | 3:40 PM ET | 08-22-2008

Over-marketing of some versions of this song - to tv especially - may render those versions unlistenable to some. The internet and live concerts, however, make the non-mainstream versions accessible and the torch-bearers for Hallelujah.

Whatever one's personal taste, there's no denying Cohen has created a masterwork that can be continually enjoyed anew. You may have to look further than your tv set or major record label to hear this song afresh.

Sent by Jack | 7:40 PM ET | 08-22-2008

I would like to simply add that Damien Rice has incorporated a heart-felt rendition of Hallelujah into his concerts for years now. It has been known to segue out of his original Cold Water.

I believe his performance of the song led him to be chosen to open for Cohen during his recent concerts in Ireland.

Sent by Jeremy | 9:56 AM ET | 08-25-2008

Gordon Downie covered "Hallelujah" for the little Canadian film _St. Ralph_. His cover, along with the placement of the track in the movie, make my heart clench up every time I hear it.

The song has been covered terrifically (Downie, Carlile, Buckley) and horrificly (Wainwright). People play with the different verses; Cohen himself played with different verses. Sometimes it's brilliant, sometimes it's painful. Sort of like life. Ah!

Sent by Laura | 12:52 PM ET | 08-25-2008

Am I overlooking something? ISTM this song is about the failure of love to live up to its hype, for the singer, at any rate.

Sent by CD | 1:10 PM ET | 08-25-2008

PS: I have my own version of the song- it's quite an easy guitar piece, but the Buckley version will bring me to tears, every time.

Sent by CD | 1:27 PM ET | 08-25-2008

Meaning? Who cares. It's all about how it makes you feel. And, of course, that can depend in great measure on who performs it. I'm partial to kd lang's version. If a particular version sucks,it's not the song's fault. In my view, the song contains some of the best individual lines ever written. But May Bell has a point. It's fast supplanting "Over the Rainbow" as the "go to" belter for American Idol wannabees everywhere (so no surprise David Archuleta went there). For the real meaning of "butcher" though, nothing tops Bon Jovi's version. I mean, really, there ought to be a law.

Sent by Steve Chapman | 1:37 PM ET | 08-25-2008

I listened to all three of those presented here, simultaneously and superimposed. To me it is the sound of the human lament, similar to "The Mariner's Hymn" - the blues that come with the realization the world is bigger than mankind's will can bend. Fate hunts us, not the other way around.

Sent by Richard | 1:57 PM ET | 08-25-2008

k.d. lang sang it on 49th Parallel - her tribute to Canadian songwriters. Here's a live version to savor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JStOPpNI4Tk&feature=related

Sent by Loren Rubin | 2:08 PM ET | 08-25-2008

Sophia . . . the Feminine Mystery . . . the frustrating, elusive, impossible Muse . . .

Sent by Jim | 3:10 PM ET | 08-25-2008

If one does not "get" Jeff Buckley, all you have to do is light a candle, sit in a dark room and sit still while listening to Jeff's album "Grace". On that album is the version of this song that one should use for comparison - versus the tangents Jeff would take in live performances.

It isn't titled "Grace" for nothing. It leaves you feeling as if God touched you when you're done listening, whether it be just the song "Hallelujah" or any other song on the album.

He was taken away from us far too soon.

Sent by Beth | 3:11 PM ET | 08-25-2008

I forgot to add that there is no version more haunting and centering than Buckley's.

Sent by Beth | 3:21 PM ET | 08-25-2008

As I reflect on it more, I'm not so convinced that Hallelujah is a masterwork that bears repeating and redefining. I think Mr Buckley's misfortune and the resulting deification of his image along with the spiritual interpretations and Biblical imagery work in tandem to give this song life beyond what it would normally deserve.

Give me Tower of Song or First we'll take Manhattan over Hallelujah any day.

Sent by Ed | 3:40 PM ET | 08-25-2008

though this is one of my all time favorite songs, i have to agree with tom hendricks that it's mostly a bunch of arcane images strung together. we are free to interpret it to fit our needs. i've always wondered if bob dylan finds it amusing that fans try so hard to figure him out through his lyrics. anyway, this is still a great song; i like k d lang's version the best.

Sent by pam | 8:09 PM ET | 08-25-2008

Music lover that I am I can't believe I went for so many years not hearing this song. I first came upon it as sung by K.D. Lang only two months ago on YouTube. I was captivated by her rendition and had to get Leonard C's album with it, and Jeff Buckley's too. This song just does something to me, grabs me and sends chills up my spine. What does it mean? I am not as eloquent as other responders. I don't know what it means and frankly I don't care. I only know that I love this song and can listen to it over and over.

Sent by Jan | 8:48 PM ET | 08-25-2008

What's it about? The usual Leonard Cohen stuff. Sex, mostly. What is the "secret chord" in the first verse? Read the fourth verse - it's all there plain as day. Sexual release as communion with the holy spirit, sexual frustration as spiritual defeat, emotional coldness as a denial of God. Jeff Buckley's recording still sends shivers up my spine, but in all truth I think the song is far more wordy and convoluted than it is profound.

Sent by Tom Wright | 11:05 PM ET | 08-25-2008

The John Cale piano solo version is the first I heard and one I prefer, although this live performance is quite nice, too.

Its use is almost a cliche now on TV shows, used as a closing soundtrack to evoke a sense of loss. Crossing Jordan, Cold Case, etc.

Sent by NCWOOD | 12:43 PM ET | 08-27-2008

Honestly, I think the debate over song (any art really) meaning is never a dead horse. And to all of the people that say its meaning is plain as day? No.

The thing is, although writing is about communicating, _everything_ is open to interpretation. You might have a fairly straightforward story-song about a teenager not coming back from Dead Man's Curve, or a complex mediation on sex, fidelity, and "love that wasn't strong enough to bridge the divide" (nice one, Jordan--spot on for many songs, Cohen's and other's). But either way, there are usually several meanings for just about any sort of shared art, and music is a shared art.

(Elvis Costello once said, "People are always asking me what this song is about. If I could have explained it another way, well, I would have written a different song.")

You could argue about what Cohen meant when he originally wrote and recorded the song. You could argue about what they thought they meant when any of the hundreds of artists cover it. (kd lang pays homage to another great Canadian, a TV show cynically lures in viewers with a song guaranteed to sell soundtracks; et cetera.)

But that doesn't even begin to talk about what it means to the millions of people that love the song. I can accept that my interpretation of the song (which is private, thank you very much) is not yours, and I may be willing to discuss yours and mine with you. (Although you really should buy me a beer, right?)

So continue to debate this song, and others, regardless of how many blog postings there are out there. In addition to communicating itself, good music brings us together, communication and community and communion. Maybe there's some kid out there that hasn't heard this song before.

Oh, and RE: the OC overplaying this song: It says something that the OC is dead and Hallelujah isn't.

Sent by Donaldson | 12:58 PM ET | 08-27-2008

Now I've read it in a music blog,
About a song as clear as fog,
That some don't really care for Hallelujah.
They say it's long,
And overplayed,
That Rufus wailed,
While Buckley prayed,
It baffles me, and I say what's it to ya?
What's it to ya? What's it to ya?
What's it to ya? What's it to ya?

It's all too much,
But what's the fuss?
Poetry is ambiguous,
And Cohen is a poet who sings to ya.
A tale told with religious flair,
About a love who didn't care,
He knew that those together would so move ya.
What's it to ya? What's it to ya?
What's it to ya? What's it to ya?

Baby I'll just tell you once,
It doesn't mean you are a dunce,
If lyrics sometimes seem like Sanskrit to you.
Words paint pictures just like art,
Some as fleeting as a fart.
The meaning is just sometimes left up to ya.
What's it to ya? What's it to ya?
What's it to ya? What's it to ya?

Sent by Tom Robinson | 3:49 PM ET | 08-27-2008

I find that I often find myself telling people (motivated by a great fervor to share) about movies, or books, or poems or songs I've just enjoyed. People often say, "what was it about?" It seems with great art (literary art in particular) that the only answer that really suffices is "lots of stuff"

Sent by Steve Ritt | 8:49 PM ET | 08-31-2008

For me, the song is about vulnerability, about wanting something (usually love, but maybe affection, or commitment, or trust itself) that you know won't be delivered. For me, it's also communicating a the emotional black hole that is fear of betrayal - "but you don't really care for music, do you?" It's a theme most evident in my favourite verse, the second, which plunges deep into my chest and wraps its powerful, scary, cold fingers around my heart. "Your faith was strong but you needed proof..." mines the sabotage and destructiveness of distrust; "she tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne and cut your hair" is the physical reality of betrayal, even as she draws the Hallelujah from your lips. And what better portrait of the falliability of love, the inevitable dark shadow accompanying its euphoria, than "love is not a victory march/it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah"?

The magic of Cohen is that he doesn't plunge you into an emotion-charged pit of agony and dispair; instead, he forces you to confront the rationality of knowing that the love affair is over, or that it will never be what you hope; it's a profoundly unsatifying, mental response - which, for me, is all the more powerful. It's like the best cinematic thriller that suggests at horrors but let's the viewer's mind construct its own version, based on their deepest fear, rather than splashing gore across the screen. Then he lets you wallow, nostalgic for 'the time you let me know/what's really going on below...when i moved in you...and every breath we drew was Hallelujah'. And finally, to the self-preserving cynicism in the face of unrequited love, emotional deceit, rejection, and the 'broken Hallalujah': "Maybe there's a God above", Cohen shrugs - but so what? "All I ever learned from love/was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya."

For me, no-one quite captures that fragility, insecurity, and emotion that is at once coldly superficial yet shatteringly profound as kd lang. I was three rows back, mere metres from her, when she performed it at the Cambridge Folk Festival. I was just about in tears - truly spectacular. In a perfectly understated way.

Sent by nashvilleblues | 9:28 AM ET | 09-02-2008

Tom Robinson, you are my new hero!

Sent by Laura | 10:05 PM ET | 09-02-2008

Tom Robinson you missed your calling...still love the Jeff Buckley version and KD's is my second best.

Sent by Whatever | 11:39 AM ET | 09-15-2008

Here's my loose but long-held interpretation, based on Jeff's version which I heard at Sine so, so many years and so many losses ago:

it's a song about a heartbreak that refers to David in the bible and how music ("a sacred chord") and sex both help us speak to the divine, or bridge the gap between earth and heaven.

I do not know if "you saw her bathing on the roof" is a biblical reference or not, but i've always assumed it's original poetry.

"she tied you to her kitchen chair, she broke your throne and she cut your hair, and from your lips she drew the hallelujah" -- she domesticated him and destroyed his symbols of power, and she found out what kind of music he'd used to communicate with God -- or she tortured him to find it out (but he loved it) --

and this sacred hallelujah is really just cold and broken, love is not a triumph, it brings us down. it cracks us wide open and then it goes.

and since she doesn't "really care for music" she doesn't even know what all has been destroyed. it's war, and it's empty. but God was it ever holy while the love was here. at least for him.

I love the erotic holiness of "Remember when I moved in you and the holy dove was moving too"

Let us not forget that the dove and Mary were not the best couple either ... As Dudley Moore and Peter Cook said, "he made her an offer she couldn't refuse." Those early Renaissance virgins with their faroff gazes always seemed to me to still be virgins -- to not have noticed the sex -- "what's really going on below, but now you never show that to me, do ya".

Sent by Robinita | 1:48 PM ET | 09-15-2008

KD Lang's live version of this song (you can find it on YouTube)is sublime.

Sent by Tony | 10:36 PM ET | 09-15-2008

Ari Hest sings this the best! Don't know if he is on youtube, but you can download the song on Itunes. Unbelievable. I have been obsessed with this song since I heard it and have listened to alot of versions. His is the best. He is awesome!!!!!

Sent by Dawn | 7:58 PM ET | 09-24-2008

To Robinita,
Yes, the bathing on the roof is a Biblical reference - King David saw Bathsheba, a married woman, bathing on the roof and "coveted her", so he sent her husband to die in battle so he could sleep with her - it's also supposed to be the point where King David begins his downfall (or fall from grace, however you wish to see it). It's another tie-in to this whole sex-love-betrayal theme and the relation of the divine and profane, especially in sex and love.

Sent by Danae | 9:22 PM ET | 09-30-2008