Hallelujah

[gdima]

I don't understand what the song Hallelujah is about. Please explain. Thanks

[TheBigJerkface]

Like many of his songs, each verse can be interpreted to have multiple meanings. The song isn't strictly about a single thing, but there is a strong theme throughout of sex, orgasms, and how these pertain to interpersonal relationships. Even the title itself can be interpreted as a climactic exclamation.

Lenny's own explanation: "It explains that many kinds of hallelujahs do exist, and all the perfect and broken hallelujahs have equal value."

A lot of the kooky fundamentalists here in America will try to tell you that it is a song about "blah blah blah repent, jeezus, get born again." Those people are stupid and probably think that Animal Farm is about animals...on a farm. Pay them no mind. In fact, just tell them that Lenny is a Jew and a Buddhist. They'll hate him and stop listening to Hallelujah in no time.

One example:

'There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah '

is NOT about being filled with the pure, innocent joy of god.

If you really need a simple answer, I think the most succinct one I can give is "Hallelujah is about sexual ecstasy, despair brought on by love, and a devotion to a lover that borders on religious fervor."

[kalinowt]

That's a pretty good general sumary; however the song is quite complex and works on multiple levels: one of those levels is indeed religious or sacred. Leonard Cohen has always sought to unify the carnal and the sacred as they are both part of the human condition-- he recognizes the conflicted self and attempts to resolve it in his songs, poems and other works. Hallelujah is probably his most seamless example of that.

Like many of his songs, each verse can be interpreted to have multiple meanings. The song isn't strictly about a single thing, but there is a strong theme throughout of sex, orgasms, and how these pertain to interpersonal relationships. Even the title itself can be interpreted as a climactic exclamation.

Lenny's own explanation: "It explains that many kinds of hallelujahs do exist, and all the perfect and broken hallelujahs have equal value."

A lot of the kooky fundamentalists here in America will try to tell you that it is a song about "blah blah blah repent, jeezus, get born again." Those people are stupid and probably think that Animal Farm is about animals...on a farm. Pay them no mind. In fact, just tell them that Lenny is a Jew and a Buddhist. They'll hate him and stop listening to Hallelujah in no time.

One example:

'There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah '

is NOT about being filled with the pure, innocent joy of god.

If you really need a simple answer, I think the most succinct one I can give is "Hallelujah is about sexual ecstasy, despair brought on by love, and a devotion to a lover that borders on religious fervor."

[kwills]

Hi gidma try this link it will help explain some things.


viewtopic.php?f=9&t=20864#p216318

[Pope]

if you try to explain it too much you lose the meaning