Ken Sehested
The 7th of November is the anniversary of Leonard Cohen’s passing. He was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist who explored themes like faith, mortality, and social conflict. He started writing and releasing folk-rock and pop music in the 1960s, and is best known for his 1984 song “Hallelujah.”
If any recall only one Leonard Cohen song, it’s probably “Hallelujah,” now considered iconic, and covered by some 300 artists in multiple languages. But the history of the song’s reception is bewildering and circuitous.
His record company refused to release the song in 1983. When an independent label released it the next year, no one noticed. It would be 20 years before the song was widely circulated—in another artist’s cover. Cohen is said to have written 150 verses. Remarkably, the song didn’t make it to the Billboard charts until shortly before Cohen’s death.
The lyrics most often heard (many covering artists have picked different verses in different order) are somewhat enigmatic, sometimes frankly sensual, often thoroughly devotional.
The fascinating narrative of the song’s unfolding history is detailed in Alan Light’s 2012 book, “The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & the Unlikely Ascent of ‘Hallelujah.”
What follows is a short list of my favorites.
- “Hallelujah,” Leonard Cohen
- “Ring the bells that still can ring / Forget your perfect offering / There is a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in.” —“Anthem”
- “O troubled dust concealing / An undivided love / The Heart beneath is teaching / To the broken Heart above.” —“Come Healing” This song contains my favorite Cohen lyrics. It is on the rotation of worship music we sing in our congregation.
- “Dance me to the children / who are asking to be born / Dance me through the curtains / that our kisses have outworn / Raise a tent of shelter now / though every thread is torn / And dance me to the end of love.” —“Dance Me to the End of Love”
- Many of Cohen’s songs are vocal prayers. He expressly named this one as such. “If It Be Your Will,” performed with the Webb Sisters (with lyrics).
- Here’s a sharply prophetic word from him: “. . . from the staggering account / of the Sermon on the Mount / which I don’t pretend to understand at all. / It’s coming from the silence / on the dock of the bay, / from the brave, the bold, the battered / heart of Chevrolet: / Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.” —Leonard Cohen, “Democracy” (Click the “show more” button to see the lyrics.)
- It’s been reported that k.d. lang’s cover of Hallelujah, performed at the 2010 Olympics was the one he found most moving.
- On 7 November 2017, the first anniversary of Cohen’s passing, Cantor Azi Schwartz sings the “Hallelujah” tune, substituting the Hebrew text of Psalm 150 which is recited daily in Jewish prayer.
- Here’s my lyrics rewrite, excerpting from Psalm 23, to Cohen’s “Hallelujah” tune, performed by Ken Medema
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