“But remember when I moved in you and the holy dove was moving too, and every breath we drew was Hallelujah.”
Leonard Cohen is best remembered for his song “Hallelujah,” which has become a universally-loved hymn though it had a rough start. It was rejected, along with the album it was on, by Columbia Records when Cohen first presented it in 1984. According to Cohen, Columbia had told him that “we know you are great, but don’t know if you are any good.” Eventually, it was released on an almost unknown indie label but with no following acclaim.
One of the problems, reportedly, was that Cohen had written 80 different verses and had taken a while to hash it all out. Cohen opened up about the process of writing “Hallelujah,” that it began in a New York hotel in 1983 on “an old Casio keyboard” and that it took several years more to refine. In an interview he explained, “To find that song, that urgent song, takes a lot of versions and a lot of work and a lot of sweat.”
About a decade later, John Cale from The Velvet Underground was inspired when he heard Cohen perform “Hallelujah.” Cale asked Cohen for the lyrics and was given a very long list. Cohen told him to go with what he liked.
Fast forward a couple years later when Jeff Buckley was at a friend’s house listening to a Leonard Cohen tribute album. He heard John Cale’s track of “Hallelujah” and was also inspired. Jeff Buckley recorded his own version which eventually helped to bring widespread attention to the song. When Buckley tragically died in 1997 his cover of “Hallelujah” became his own elegy.
Cohen first recorded the song himself when he was 50 years old and said that it came from “a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way, but with enthusiasm, with emotion.” Later he explained that “there is a religious hallelujah, but there are many other ones. When one looks at the world, there’s only one thing to say, and it’s hallelujah”.
Presently, “Hallelujah” has been covered by over 300 artists. It is also a favorite of my piano students. It is written in the key of C major and uses common rock chords: I, IV, V, and vi. Its chord progression is referenced in the opening lyrics: “It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, The minor falls, the major lifts.” It is a lovely piece to learn on the piano.