What does this have to do with the Holidays?

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Last year during the holidays I heard this awful (in my opinion) song. I kept listening to the lyrics trying to figure out just HOW it has
ANYTHING to do with the holidays...…..
I'm not posting the song itself, just the lyrics google provided...…...
Anyone have a take on it? All I can figure is it is played at this time of year because it says "hallelujah" several times...….


I'd heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
Well, it goes like this
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Well, your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to the kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips, she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Well baby, I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Well, maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

 
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Last year during the holidays I heard this awful (in my opinion) song. I kept listening to the lyrics trying to figure out just HOW it has
ANYTHING to do with the holidays...…..
I'm not posting the song itself, just the lyrics google provided...…...
Anyone have a take on it? All I can figure is it is played at this time of year because it says "hallelujah" several times...….


I'd heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
Well, it goes like this
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Well, your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to the kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips, she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Well baby, I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Well, maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Yes a very defeatist song.. The writer seems to be confusing the David Bathsheba incident with the Samson Delilah story.. As for the rest it seems to be a song written by a guy who seems to have repeatedly failed in his romatic dealings with woman..

It seems to be a weird entwining of Biblical and personal stories about bad relationships..
 
Last year during the holidays I heard this awful (in my opinion) song. I kept listening to the lyrics trying to figure out just HOW it has
ANYTHING to do with the holidays...…..
I'm not posting the song itself, just the lyrics google provided...…...
Anyone have a take on it? All I can figure is it is played at this time of year because it says "hallelujah" several times...….


I'd heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
Well, it goes like this
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Well, your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to the kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips, she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Well baby, I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Well, maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Not sure why you omitted this section of the song, but it is the most disturbing aspect of it for me:


There was a time you'd let me know
What's real and going on below
But now you never show it to me do you?
And remember when I moved in you?
THE HOLY DARK was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
 
I have heard that song. Never liked it, but I'm not into mellow drama. Oh well, I guess to answer the op question. It doesn't have anything to do with any holiday.
 
wow, looks like the adversary slipped one in . Thank you for the heads up, sticking to the oldies here!!!!
 
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Not sure why you omitted this section of the song, but it is the most disturbing aspect of it for me:


There was a time you'd let me know
What's real and going on below
But now you never show it to me do you?
And remember when I moved in you?
THE HOLY DARK was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
I just cut and copied what came up on a google search of the lyrics..... if anything is missing it is NOT intentional on my part.
THAT is disturbing....
 
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It is one of my all-time favorite songs. (And, who told you it was supposed to be about the holidays?)
 
I think of what is going on in the minds of the youth who need to hear the Gospel story correctly as they hear something like this.
 
If you understand how to listen to the words, it is about turning from God, to trusting in humanly "love" and what happens to mankind when we do that . Several Biblical examples of men doing that are given.
 
"Hallelujah", in its original version, is in 12
8 time
, which evokes both early rock and roll and gospel music. Written in the key of C major, the chord progression matches lyrics from the song: "goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, and the major lift": C, F, G, A minor, F.[6]

Cohen wrote around 80 draft verses for "Hallelujah", with one writing session at the Royalton Hotel in New York where he was reduced to sitting on the floor in his underwear, banging his head on the floor.[7] His original version, as recorded on his album Various Positions, contains several biblical references, most notably evoking the stories of Samson and Delilah from the Book of Judges ("she cut your hair") as well as King David and Bathsheba ("you saw her bathing on the roof, her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you").[6][8]

Following his original 1984 studio-album version, Cohen performed the original song on his world tour in 1985, but live performances during his 1988 and 1993 tours almost invariably contained a quite different set of lyrics. Numerous singers mix lyrics from both versions, and occasionally make direct lyric changes; for example, in place of Cohen's "holy dove", Canadian-American singer Rufus Wainwright substituted "holy dark", while Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe sang "holy ghost".

Cohen's lyrical poetry and his view that "many different hallelujahs exist" is reflected in wide-ranging covers with very different intents or tones, allowing the song to be "melancholic, fragile, uplifting [or] joyous" depending on the performer:[6] The Welsh singer-songwriter John Cale, the first person to record a cover version of the song (in 1991), promoted a message of "soberness and sincerity" in contrast to Cohen's dispassionate tone;[6] the cover by Jeff Buckley, an American singer-songwriter, is more sorrowful and was described by Buckley as "a hallelujah to the orgasm";[6][9] Crowe interpreted the song as a "very sexual" composition that discussed relationships;[6] Wainwright offered a "purifying and almost liturgical" interpretation;[6] and Guy Garvey of the British band Elbow made the hallelujah a "stately creature" and incorporated his religious interpretation of the song into his band's recordings.[6]
Canadian singer k.d. lang said in an interview shortly after Cohen's death that she considered the song to be about "the struggle between having human desire and searching for spiritual wisdom. It's being caught between those two places."[10] Former Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page, who sang the song at Canadian politician Jack Layton's funeral, described the song as being "about disappointing [other] people".[11]
 
I looked into this last year. Couldn't believe how many versions exist.

Found a couple that actually were inspiring, but most were "dark" to say the least.
 
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It is strictly a humanistic secular song with no spiritual meaning at all. Hallelujah (praise God) is being used as a secular expletive.
It appeals to people who are spiritually dead.
 
Searched "How many versions..." are there. Came up. 300 versions 😄

Would have 2 go thru all of them 2 condemn all of them.
 
As I have said before, whether listening to a song, or reading the Bible, most people will find the God they look for.
 
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It is strictly a humanistic secular song with no spiritual meaning at all. Hallelujah (praise God) is being used as a secular expletive.
It appeals to people who are spiritually dead.
Thank you. (I guess that's not the worst I have been called.)
 
Here's the original: Leonard Cohen singing of a broken man lamenting how, though he once knew the Lord, he threw it all away for worldly pleasures.

If you cannot see a cry to God in this song, then I guess you have lived too perfect a life for me to ever be able to identify with you.

 
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Leonard Cohen is not a Christian. He was born a Jew, tried to become a Monk (living in a Monastery for 6 years in the 90's) and he is still searching.... for something. He doesn't live my lifestyle, but I cannot condemn him as I have heard others doing here.