Hallelujah is a richly beautiful song, words and music written by the very talented writer, poet and musical artist, Leonard Cohen. Recently featured in the animated film, Shrek, I became aware of the song as it served as an emotional backdrop in an episode of The West Wing called Posse Comitatus.
So many artists have performed or recorded this track...Sheryl Crow, Bon Jovi, Sammy Haggar, Rufus Wainwright to name a few. My personal favorite is the performance by KD Lang that I happened upon while perusing YouTube. Deeply interpretative, each artist infuses a great deal of emotion into their performance of this song. Many honoring it's beauty in the interpretation and revealing a part of themselves in the process.
Not having the benefit of reading Leonard Cohen's account of his own meaning in the lyric, one still cannot miss the range of emotion present in the melody. Add the lyric and layer after layer of beautiful emotional challenge washes over me as I listen to it
At the heart of the track is the seeming presence of a higher power, at least I think so. When I listen to it I feel my own Maker's presence, silently wondering, sometimes painfully, how I came to be on the road I travel and whose choice put me there...His or mine.
The thought is a humbling one and I find myself giving over when I listen to the piece. Giving over to accept, albeit begrudgingly, my Maker's will. I'm reminded by the music to accept what things I'm given, things that are not mine to choose but nonetheless are mine to live. I surrender to it, accept it as my fate. His will. Thy will be done.
So it is in this particular song, in this beautiful and rich confessional, that I find myself free from resistance. I will lay in the dark, the music serving as my own personal emotional backdrop , and I make my examination. I look at all that has gone wrong, I look at all that is wrong and all that I want so badly to not have as mine to endure and I let it go. I let this music wash over me and take with it all of my resistance, I accept. Thy will be done.
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
and even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
That's my own personal interpretation Mr Cohen
Hallelujah
Indeed
