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Friday, February 06, 2009

hallelujah...

i absolutely love this song, by leonard cohen.... i decided today to have a good read over of the lyrics, cuz there were some words i didn't understand and i wanted to read them so i would know what this song that i really love is actually about! lol....

i think it's a song that could be taken many ways... but to me, it's about coming to God - searching for Him - from a place of brokenness... we see who He is and learn His love not so much from grand declarations of who He is, but from places of brokenness, fallenness, uncertainty, and need.... not from performance, but worship... from getting a glimpse of, and receiving, His grace... i love this song all the more now, and i can truly sing it as unto the Lord. :)



"Hallelujah"

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

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

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

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

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

2 comments:

  1. I like that song too...first time I heard it was on Shrek! I like Rufus Wainwrights version, I believe its the one that was in the movie...unfortunately not the one on the movies soundtrack:(

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  2. yah, i have rufus' version on my playlist... i discovered his lyrics are a little different from the original... i like his version on my playlist, but none of his live versions of the song do it justice... but leonards, it's just classic....

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