# Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah: Am I missing something? (Redditor's interpretation vs. my interpretation) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2020, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294 "2020-08-29T05:13:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294/21 "2020-08-29T15:45:27Z")
Not a bad takedown. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294/22 "2020-08-29T16:23:34Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/TSFKYLe8oZg/maxresdefault.jpg "SNL Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton Sings ‘Hallelujah’ On Saturday Night Live") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSFKYLe8oZg) This is what I think of when someone mentions using this song in a political way. Snl found a way to soothe the raw nerves of those who couldn’t believe trump won, and honour mr cohen. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294/23 "2020-08-29T17:06:55Z")
That’s fantastic. Another reason to think Kate McKinnon is one of the best performers of our time. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294/24 "2020-08-29T19:59:23Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > Snl found a way to soothe the raw nerves of those who couldn’t believe trump won I disagree. And I’ll leave it at that since this is not the forum for me to say anything more on that subject. Oh, hell, I can’t resist: ART IS NOT THE OPIATE OF THE MASSES! Respectfully. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294/25 "2020-08-30T00:34:04Z")
Hallelujah is a song about strength and survival. Cohen had a difficult life. He was battered by life but not broken. Yet he sums up with… _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_ > **[Leonard Cohen Has Spent The Past 80 Years Being A Badass](https://www.vice.com/en/article/rkadbv/leonard-cohen-has-spent-the-past-80-years-being-a-badass)** > > He combined amphetamines and fasting for two eight-month stints on the Aegean Sea and stopped a riot at the Isle of Wight festival in 1970. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294/26 "2020-09-02T10:33:57Z")
Interview with Leonard Cohen: “This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled but there are moments when we can transcend the dualistic system and reconcile and embrace the whole mess and that’s what I mean by Hallelujah.” Weeeeeell, you can look at that in two ways, depending on your mood: either it’s profound and all-encompassing, or transcendental BS. Which appliers to some other song lyrics as well, although none come to my addled mind right now. Looking at the lyrics of Hallelujah, I just find them “lumpy.” Because I see, or at least I think I can see, the Biblical references and some other underlying themes, but I don’t think he ties it together well and it feels disconnected. At the end, I am left asking myself just what he was trying to say. FWIW, I never really heard much of Leonard Cohen at the time that he was big - Sixties and Seventies, when everybody played “Suzanne.” I just have a neutral feeling about his work. Of course, there is the old joke I heard in a folk club: “I am now going to sing a poem by Leonard Cohen, set to one of his three tunes.” ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294/27 "2020-09-11T01:51:54Z")
For what it’s worth… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/AGRfJ6-qkr4/maxresdefault.jpg "Choir! Choir! Choir! / Rufus Wainwright + 1500 singers sing HALLELUJAH!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGRfJ6-qkr4) ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294/28 "2020-09-11T06:26:40Z")
Jeez, people are allowed to dislike the song! There’s no need to infer the life experiences of other posters because they don’t like a song you do. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294/29 "2020-09-11T06:27:41Z")
I agree. Where did I say otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294/30 "2020-09-11T06:30:35Z")
I inferred it from the way you responded to Aspidistra throughout the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294/31 "2020-09-11T06:52:48Z")
I responded to **Aspidistra** in post #13: > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > It is fine to not like something…even a popular something. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294/32 "2020-09-20T14:32:48Z")
I think it’s a beautiful song about dysfunctional relationships. The imagery is very powerful. I don’t agree with its characterization of love. That is not what love is to me. But then, I’ve been with the same man my entire adult life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-am-i-missing-something-redditors-interpretation-vs-my-interpretation/919294.md?page=1)