HALLELUJAH
"Hallelujah" is a song written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen, originally released on his
album Various Positions, released in 1984.
The word hallelujah has slightly different implications in the Old and New Testaments. In the
Hebrew Bible, it is a compound word, from hallelu, meaning "to praise joyously," and yah, a
shortened form of the unspoken name of God. So this is an active imperative, an instruction to
sing tribute to the Lord.
In the Christian tradition, "hallelujah" is a word of praise rather than a direction to offer
praise – which became the more common colloquial use of the word as an expression of joy or
relief.
Each verse ends with the word that gives the song its title, which is then repeated four times,
giving the song its signature prayer-like incantation.
1) Cohen's song begins with an image of the Bible's musically identified King David,
recounting (raccontando) the heroic harpist's "secret chord," with its special spiritual power
("And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul
was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him" – 1 Samuel 16:23).
But this first verse almost instantly undercuts its own solemnity; after offering such an
inspiring image in the opening lines, Cohen remembers whom he's speaking to, and reminds
his listener that "you don't really care for music, do you?"
Cohen then describes the harmonic progression of the verse: "It goes like this: the
fourth, the fifth / the minor fall, the major lift." This is an explanation of the song's
structure (the basic chord progression of most pop and blues songs goes from the "one"
chord, the root, up three steps to the "four," then up another to the "five," and then resolves
back to the "one"), followed by a reference to the conventional contrast between a major
(happy) key and a minor (sad) key.
He ends the first verse with "the baffled king composing Hallelujah!" – a comment on
the unknowable nature of artistic creation, or of romantic love, or both.
2) The second verse of "Hallelujah" shifts to the second person – "Your faith was strong
but you needed proof." Apparently the narrator is now addressing the character who was
described in the first verse, since the next lines invoke another incident in the David story,
when the king discovers and is tempted by Bathsheba.
Following the David and Bathsheba reference, the sexuality of the lyrics is drawn further
forward and then reinforced in an image of torture and lust taken from the story of Samson
and Delilah – "She tied you to a kitchen chair / she broke your throne, she cut
your hair" – before resolving with a vision of sexual release: "and from your lips she
drew the Hallelujah!" Both biblical heroes are brought down to earth and risk
surrendering their authority, because of the allure of forbidden love which can lead to
disaster.
3) In the third verse of "Hallelujah," Cohen's deadpan wit (spirito all’inglese) returns, offering
a rebuttal (confutazione) to the religious challenge presented in the previous lines. "You say
I took the Name in vain," he sings. "I don't even know the name."
He then builds to the song's central premise – the value, even the necessity of the song of
