About Leonard Cohen’s most well-known song:
Katya Sedgwick, "Cohen’s Hallelujah," First Things, March 13, 2023.
.... “Hallelujah” may have the 12/8 timing and major chords that work so well for gospel music and wedding processionals, but it’s ultimately a story of fear and failure: “I did my best, it wasn't much.” Cohen dedicated it to “the broken.”Among the many, many covers, I picked this one:
Sunday Times critic Bryan Appleyard observed that among all the verses available to cover artists, “Only two possibilities predominated: either this was a wistful, ultimately feel good song or it was an icy, bitter commentary on human relations.” The first, crowd-pleasing possibility only lasted one-and-a-half stanzas, but it’s amplified by the eternal desire to lose oneself in a chorus of hallelujahs. The rest of the lyrics attest to the author’s inability to live in a state of grace.
This is unfortunate. Audiences long for a serious, modern poem about the Creator blessing human desire. .... (more)
Katya Sedgwick, "Cohen’s Hallelujah," First Things, March 13, 2023.
I am sorry to read this. I have always been captivated by the melody of this song, and thought of it as a song of redemption.
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