What I'm Pondering Tonight
I don't know if I have met a person who has heard the song "Hallelujah," by Leonard Cohen, who hasn't been moved by it. Whether it was the original version, or the amazing versions done by other artists (Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley) it is a powerful song.
However, something that strikes me about many of the versions I have heard, including Wainwright's and Buckley's, is that they often leave off with the following verse.:
"Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah"
To be certain, that verse is poignant, powerful in its sorrow.
But it isn't the end of the song! There are (at least) two more verses that pull the song right back around to hope, and they are brilliant. They give me chills, when placed in the context of the rest of the song.:
"You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah"
"I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah"
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
However, something that strikes me about many of the versions I have heard, including Wainwright's and Buckley's, is that they often leave off with the following verse.:
"Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah"
To be certain, that verse is poignant, powerful in its sorrow.
But it isn't the end of the song! There are (at least) two more verses that pull the song right back around to hope, and they are brilliant. They give me chills, when placed in the context of the rest of the song.:
"You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah"
"I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah"
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.