"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]