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mike_e_mcgee t1_ix84c64 wrote

Reply to comment by B-in-Va in TIL singer songwriter Leonard Cohen claimed to have written approximately 150 draft verses of his most famous song "Hallelujah", a claim substantiated by his notebooks containing manifold revisions and additions, and by contemporary interviews. by big_macaroons

He uses religious imagery to describe a sexual relationship gone bad. That is about as profane as you can get. The opening line is one of the most hurtful things I've ever heard. This is a song from the perspective of a hurt, broken man lashing out.

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My favorite version is the 8 year old girl singing it to the pope.

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It's the most misused song I can think of. Because it is melancholy, and has religious references, we hear it at Christmas, at funerals, at all manor of places it's inappropriate. I bet Cohen would be laughing his ass off hearing it the way it's played.

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ncraiderfan17 t1_ix9ia9y wrote

Born in the U.S.A. being used for patriotic reasons is pretty close

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B-in-Va t1_ixarngk wrote

"David played a secret chord." I assumed that line was specific about music. David was a great musician.

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