Hallelujah -Leonard Cohen
Photo courtesy Wikipedia
It’s funny where things will take you sometimes. I had a completely different review in mind for today but my ADD caught up with me and my attraction to shiny got the better of me. The shiny in this case was the Olympic opening ceremonies, which I thought were fantastic (except for the tacky way they transported Gretsky and the torch to the cauldron. I mean, really, they could have found some other way surely than by motorcade), and which brought a tear to my eye on more than one occasion. Yes, I have to admit to wiping a tear or two away when they brought out the Olympic flag with Donald Sutherland, Beth Fox, Julie Payette, Romeo Dullaire(!), and others carrying it. Hearing Romeo Dallaire get such a rousing cheer made me feel proud for some reason. The second tear was seeing Steve Nash carrying the torch. I’m not a basketball fan by any means but even I can understand how great he is and it pleased me no end (unreasonably so) to see him there.
So far so good. Athletes! Patriotism! Wild cheering! Gratuitous excess! Yay!! And then came the music. I mean, really. The only really good show of musical anything (imnsho) was seeing Ashley MacIsaac tear up the stage with his fiddle. Yes, he’s controversial but there is no doubting his genius and talent on that instrument. Canada has a great wealth of musical talent, surely there is someone better than Brian Adams and Nelly Furtado out there? Anyone? I won’t say a bad word about young Nicki Yanofsky for I had the pleasure of working a show with her recently and she is amazingly talented for one so young (she’s just 17). But the others? Gah! Which brings me to the subject of this post – Leonard Cohen’s song, Hallelujah.
Is this the most overused song ever? I mean I do love the song, I prefer John Cale’s version of it to Jeff Buckley’s (oh no, I’m a blasphemer! How could I say that out loud?) but it has got to be said – this poor song has been played. to. death. Time to put it on the shelf and find something else to play the snot out of. A quick look around the web informed me that there are over 200 covers of it. I have to admit that I have about 32 versions from diverse individuals such as Allison Crowe, Damien Rice, David Bazan and Imogen Heap to Beirut, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra to Gavin Degraw and the Dresden Dolls. Some of these covers, predictably, are better than others. It has been used to underscore death or sadness or as a means of offering hope or redemption in movies and TV shows and recently on the Hope For Haiti Now TV program. It seems you can’t go anywhere without hearing it. It’s become the sewer rat of music which is a real shame for such a great song.
I started thinking about writing this post after hearing k.d. lang do it at the opening ceremonies because I felt it totally inappropriate for the setting and I was also appalled that Justin Timberlake chose it to sing at the benefit for Haiti show. Why did I feel that way? I have always taken this song to mean something very sexual, what else could “She tied you to a kitchen chair, She broke your throne, and she cut your hair and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah” possibly mean? Yes, there is the Biblical reference to Samson and Delilah but there is also the idea that you are at your weakest and most vulnerable during sex. So for me the allusion was very obvious and therefore sooooo not right for the Olympics or Haiti relief. Then there is the problem of these lyrics “And remember when I moved in you, the holy dove was moving too and every breath we drew was Hallelujah”. Now I’m sure that it could be very innocent, I’m sure it’s not necessarily about sex but it sure is suggestive if you ask me. Again, not quite appropriate for a kids movie ala Shrek but I’m sure that would go completely over a kids head (hopefully anyway).
This song has been largely interpreted to mean something very spiritual, and I’m sure the Biblical references and symbology help that along. However, for me it all kind of falls apart when I hear the last two verses. These seem to be more an acidic commentary at being unable to sustain a relationship with his lover and the accompanying confusion as to why it all went wrong. Or it was just a abbreviated (the original is rumoured to have been 15 pages long) diatribe on the futility of all human relations. Brian Appleyard of The TimesOnline has a great article from 2005 about this if you care to read it. It’s precisely because of this acerbic attitude in the song that I fail to understand why anyone would want to sing this as a song of hope. I really don’t feel much hope in it at all quite frankly. I guess, as Appleyard points out, it’s all the Hallelujah’s in the chorus. What is hopeful about:
“I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah”
Cohen has said that “It’s the notion that there is no perfection – that this is a broken world and we live with broken hearts and broken lives but that is still no alibi for anything. On the contrary, you have to stand up and say Hallelujah under those circumstances” ( Q Magazine, October 2007). Jeff Buckley interpreted as a “hallelujah to the orgasm” and Alison Crowe found the song to be very sexual as well. John Cale, who first recorded and arranged it, was humorously accused by Cohen of only using the “cheeky verses”. When given Cohen’s admitted love of women, his past history with writing about his sexual adventures (Chelsea Hotel No. 2), never mind his poetry that deals with the same subject (Celebration, Beneath My Hands) and in general his combining of religious symbology with sexual contexts it’s not hard to see that Hallelujah is just another variation on the same theme.
I had originally been going to write this post about how inappropriate it was to use this song at the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympics because of it’s sexual content and meaning. However, since researching and reading various articles and reviews I’ve come to see that this song has somehow transcended any carnal or base intention and has come to mean something intangible and sacred. Like all the best songs written, Hallelujah means many things to many people, indeed, it is as open to as many interpretations as there are the people who sing it or listen to it. And I guess in that sense it is appropriate for any event that a person deems it to be. However, I still can’t help but feel a little…ok a lot creeped out by hearing it sung at the Olympics.
John Cale – Hallelujah
k. d. lang – Hallelujah
David McComb & Adam Peters – Don’t Go Home With Your Hard-On
Rufus Wainwright – Chelsea Hotel No. 2
Hey Sheila,
First, awesome post! I am a really big Cohen fan and when saw the title of this post on Pop Librarian I had to come running over. I think you are probably right, this song needs to be put to bed a little bit–not because it isn’t a great song, but because it’s been overcovered, as you say. I do want to discuss/challenge you on your interpretation of Cohen’s lyrics, however.
I think Cohen said it best himself in the quote you gave–it’s about the lack of any perfection in life. What better way to reveal this, sort of ironically/caustically–after all that is what Cohen IS saying, that there is no really “TRUTH” or perfection, so ironic/caustic/less-than-perfect shots at it are all we get. The song is sexual, is caustic, is very negative in some aspects–but Cohen is saying that this is all there is to still be spiritual about. Even more, he is saying very emphatically that he wants to do that work of being spiritual, just by writing the song with his religiously allusive tone and title. So for my two cents, it all comes together very nicely.
As a writer myself (though by no means anywhere near to L. Cohen’s genius), I really appreciate the juxtaposition he puts together here, of light and dark–I think that is the perfect way to write as it brings out the most honesty, by looking at the cracks in between those two colors. But then again, as an artist I do prefer Cohen’s “Tower of Song” if I want to get all anthemic. And then there’s “Democracy,” “Take This Waltz,” and a thousand other anthems from his collection to love, too. Okay now I’m babbling…
Anyways, great, thought-provoking piece and subject here. Great writing too! Thanks for the post.
-Steve