Can Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" be considered a hymn, christian song, etc?

Question

I like the way the song sounds but I have questions as to whether it is a worship song or not. Please listen to it before answering.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

First of all, great song. Cohen is an powerful poet/songwriter

I'll answer this with one of my other answers.

Song lyrics may have a particular meaning to the artist. However, many artist feel that the song should mean what you want it to mean. If it helps you to think of a song one way as opposed to what the artist's intention was, then more power to you. Let a song mean what you want it to mean.

I've listened to songs as a child and had definitions in my head of what they were suppose to mean. Later in life, the same songs could take on whole new meanings. That's the beauty of art. It can invoke what your soul needs when it needs it.

That being said, if it helps one bolster their spirit, more power to ya.

If you enjoy Leonard Cohen, may I suggest Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Here are the lyrics, but one is urged to hear them in their musical context.


"Hallelujah"

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

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

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, 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

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Answer 2

No, it could not be considered a christian song because he is jewish.
He also spent years in a zen buddhist monastery.
Alot of his songs have references to the christian bible,
and the tanakah and the torah.

Answer 3

I wouldn't say it was a religious worship song as much as it is about love worship song. I think it's a song drenched in a sense of the sacred, but I think it's more about the spiritual connection between two people in love, rather than the spiritual connection between Man and God.

There was a time when you let me know
What was really going on below
But now you never show that to me, do ya?
But remember when I moved in you
And the Holy Dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was "Hallelujah"?