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comment by b_b
b_b  ·  4602 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hallelujah lyrics meaning
Good call; that is one of the most poignant verses. Also, we can't forget about the album on which it was released, Various Positions, which is an amazing (ties for his 2nd best on my list). The whole album, starting with even the cover art, is dark and sad and reflective. There are several songs about war, death and revolution ("Night Comes On" and "The Captain", for example). I think if you want to understand Hallelujah completely, you have to evaluate in context of what LC was writing and recording at that time. VP is the first album that he released after age 50, and I think there's a component of reckoning in it that was lacking in his earlier work. It seems like mortality is very present in the entire album, to a degree that just doesn't exist in his early material, but has been in everything since. Taken in this light, its reasonable to interpret Hallelujah as having an apologetic component (especially int he verse that forwardslash quotes), but to whom I don't know. Maybe apologizing to himself for not living up to his own expectations; maybe to past lovers that he disappointed; maybe to God.




JakobVirgil  ·  4602 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Great Album I have heard Mr. Cohen says his favorite version is this http://youtu.be/7oZN2eTgvVs she skips my favorite verses as well.