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Leonard Cohen
How Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah
Took Over The World By Making
The Secular Sacred
By Happy Ron Hill
“I wanted to push the Hallelujah deep into the
secular world, into the ordinary world, The
Hallelujah, the David’s Hallelujah, was still a
religious song. So I wanted to indicate that
Hallelujah can come out of things that have
nothing to do with religion.” Leonard Cohen,
"Interview in Reykjavik, Iceland", 1988
Every year it seems new versions of the Leonard
Cohen's song Hallelujah hit the charts and new
generations enjoy it. It has taken on the air of
something that has seemingly been around
forever, and so it is easy to forget that the song
was first released in 1984 and didn't have
success until many years later.
What is the song "Hallelujah" about for most
people and why has it been so successful? There
are no doubt many answers to this
question, the first of which must be that it an
amazingly written song and has been performed
by many remarkable performers. It has also been
performed by even more not so remarkable
performers as anyone who has ever been to an
open mic can attest to.
Yet there are many great songs that don't make it.
Why did this song become so ubiquitous in our
culture? What do people feel when they
listen to the song and why do they feel it for this
particular song?
I believe the answer to these questions may go
back to a quote from Leonard, “It had references
to the Bible in it, although these references
became more and more remote as the song went
from the beginning to the end, Finally I
understood that it was not necessary to refer to
the Bible anymore. And I rewrote this song; this is
the ‘secular’ ‘Hallelujah.’ " "Antwerp" 1988
I think this song allows people to feel "spiritual"
whether or not they actually believe in God, or
follow or don't follow any particular religious
tradition. It appeals to almost everyone:
www.writeawaymagazine.co.uk
1) It appeals to people who consider themselves
"spiritual", but would never set foot in a
tradititional church. The biblical imagery works
for these people as biblical imagery is part of our
culture and heritage, but the song doesn't require
a belief in a particular religion. I think this group
is the core of the song's success because it's a
group that has grown over the period of time this
song has been out and this group probably
wouldn't like many traditional Christian songs.
2) The more traditional Christians like it (to the
point of sometimes changing the actual lyrics to
make it specifically Christian), because of the
biblical references and the title refrain, which
sounds like something from a traditional
Christian songbook. This gives it an appeal to a
whole group that would not like John Lennon's
Imagine song for instance.
3) Obviously, Jewish people like it partially
because it is written from the perspective of a
Jewish man and starts off with references to The
Old Testament and King David.
4) People of other faiths like it because it has a
general approach to belief in God and won't make
them feel excluded
5) Even anti-religious people like it because some
versions of the song contain sexual imagery and
emotional content about the nature of
relationship ("all I ever learned from love is how
to shoot at somebody who outdrew ya"). Also,
people who don't believe in God still have a
striving for profound things which is a need this
song meets. Much of whatever it is in human
nature that causes people to want to follow a
religious path still exists in non-religious people
and this song allows them to access that part of
their nature.
If you compare the worldview to John Lennon's
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