It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth,
It appeared on his seminal 1994 album, Grace.That David played, and it pleased the Lordīut you don?t really care for music, Do you? Buckley’s recording has more than a hundred million views on YouTube, alone. This, perhaps more than any other, has become the most popular version (though it wasn’t an immediate hit and Buckley died in 1997 before it became one). Piggybacking off of that, Buckley took the torch and added his drippy, delicate vocals to the song. Cohen reportedly faxed Cale 15 pages of lyrics and Cale says that he “went through and just picked out the cheeky verses.” Cale had seen Cohen sing the song live and asked him for examples of the original drafts.
It also gives off a rock and roll feel.Ĭale’s 1991 version incorporated lyrics that Cohen had only performed live. His rendition offers more melody and musicality than Cohen’s signature drier version does. Each performer puts their own spin on the tune, providing a sense of ultimate forlorn, hope, joy, or curiosity.Ĭale was the first to record a cover version, doing so in 1991 on his album I’m Your Fan, a Cohen tribute album (check out his HERE). And Chester Bennington sang it for Chris Cornell’s funeral.īut the few that everyone knows are done by Wainwright, Cale, Buckley, and singer k.d. Since then, artists like Brandi Carlile, Regina Spektor, Willie Nelson, Pentatonix, Bono, Bon Jovi, and many more have performed the track. To date, there are more than 300 known versions of the song, with likely thousands more done by hobbyist musicians and local bands.īob Dylan was one of the first to perform Cohen’s song in concert. Presumably, Cohen was working out the song live, like many artists tend to do, before ultimately landing on the final version, even though there was already a version on record. These performances, however, often contained more or different lyrics. Reportedly, following the song’s release in 1984, Cohen took it on the road and sang it for fans during his live shows. Do better, Cohen seems to say, even when it’s hard, dark, and cold.
This stanza warns against this common behavior in people. Often, he’s saying, when in a relationship, it can feel more like a competition, to win instead of to appreciate. No, it’s a cold and it’s a very broken Hallelujah It’s not some pilgrim who claims to have seen the Light Looking to love, specifically, Cohen writes beautifully:Īs for me all I’ve ever learned from loveīut it’s not a crime that you’re hear tonight He also talks about King David and Bathsheba: Now I heard there was a secret chord that David and it pleased the Lord and You saw her bathing on the roof, her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you. As Cohen writes, “It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah.”Ĭohen references the stories of Samson and Delilah from the Book of Judges, singing, She cut your hair. Love, though desired and cherished, is not only blissful. It’s exultant but it’s also a song about the dark side of humanity and of our most cherished trait: love. The song, which includes several obvious Biblical references, utilizes the single word, “Hallelujah,” as its chorus. It’s even rumored that during one writing session at the Royalton Hotel in New York, Cohen was reduced to sitting on the floor in his underwear and banging his head on the floor. He wrote something like 80 drafts of the song. Like some other notable hits of the past, including Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” Cohen wrote dozens of stanzas for the song before landing on the final version. Namely, “Goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift.” Cohen wrote the track in C-major and its chord progression-C, F, G, A-minor, F-match the meta-lyrics in the tune. The song was originally written by Cohen in 12/8 time, which recalls gospel music and, as such, early rock and roll songs. His passing, at 82 years old, marked the first time “Hallelujah” appeared in the Billboard Hot 100 song charts. And after Cohen’s death in November 2016, the song experienced another resurgence. Years after its initial release, “Hallelujah” was covered prominently by Cale, Buckley, Wainwright, and more (see below). It’s because of these themes that the song has since become timeless. Cohen, who is considered one of music’s greatest poets, writes expertly and exquisitely about the human condition, about love and sadness and remorse and hope in the track. Of course, it’s important to start the conversation about “Hallelujah” with its lyrics. The story of the song’s fame and impact has as much to do with Cohen as it does with several other notable musicians and performers, namely John Cale, Jeff Buckley, and Rufus Wainwright.
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