Song for Day 60 - "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen

Songwriter Leonard Cohen.

Day 60 - "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen

      This song can be heard everywhere, including Father Ray Kelly's use of the music at a wedding , Stephen Page's elegy  at the funeral for Canadian NDP leader Jack Layton in 2011, on X-Factor, this oddly transcendent Russian-English-Arabic performance,  enlivening subway stations, the Shrek version with Espen Lind, Askil Holm, Alejandro Fuentes, Kurt Nilsen  or with Rufus Wainwright.

     If you've been looking for an excuse to buy better speakers for your computer, this instrumental version should do the trick:

     How does the greatest poet of our time produce music this lovely?  This time, it's not a chicken-and-egg scenario.  Leonard began with these two lines:

   C                   F           G
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth,
    Am              F
The minor fall, the major lift,

     The actual chord progression, C-F-G Am-F, follows the text exactly:  in the key of “C”, “F” is the fourth, “G” the fifth, “Am” the minor fall, “F” the major lift.  The melody arose from that.  (Remember:  Alan and Marilyn Bergman created "The Windmills of Your Mind" from 8 notes!)

    Among the scores of artists who have had success covering "Hallelujah" are Susan Boyle, Jeff Buckley,  K.D. Lang,  Bon Jovi,  Bob Dylan,  Willie Nelson.  The Pentatonix have a startling acapella version:

 

Actress, singer and comedienne Kate McKinnon.

      Among many other things, the lyrics are a recipe/blueprint for how to win elections.  In order of appearance we hear:  tap into private souls, add a touch of old time religion, don't sweat small differences, modulate, dignity, faith, intimacy (Would a little sex appeal in the entourage hurt?), a scintilla of vulnerability, secularity, critical analysis, fire, the common touch, truth, responsibility, and focus.

      There may be far more beautiful renditions, but my favorite remains this Kate McKinnon SNL cold open, days after the death of Leonard Cohen on November 7th and of so many dreams on November 8th, 2016:

      Of Kate McKinnon I will say only this:  "Gods may not exist, but we know goddesses do."

Lyrics and Chords: 

[Intro]

C  Am  C  Am

[Verse]

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


[Chorus]

     F           Am          F
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
     C  G C     Am C Am
Hallelu - jah.


[Verse]

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


[Chorus]

     F           Am          F
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
     C  G C     Am C Am
Hallelu - jah.


[Verse]

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


[Chorus]

     F           Am          F
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
     C  G C     Am C Am
Hallelu - jah.


[Verse]

  C               Am
I did my best, it wasn't much,
  C                  Am
I couldn't feel so I tried to touch.
     F                 G              C      G
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool ya.
    C              F        G
And even though it all went wrong
     Am               F
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
     G             E               Am
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.


[Chorus]

     F           Am          F
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
     C  G C     Am C Am
Hallelu - jah.