The biblical word Hallelujah is a term meaning To Praise God, it is derived from 14th century Hebrew. The word is found twenty four times in the Hebrew Bible most of them in the Book of Psalms, and four times in the Christian Book of Revelations. The word Hallelujah is often spoken by clergy and their congregations. A variety of music has been written over the years where the word is often sung giving it more meaning.
Thirty years ago Leonard Cohen created his musical version of Hallelujah, he spent five years composing the music and had written eighty different verses before his first recording. The music is a mix of gospel and waltz with the original lyrics based on stories from the Bible. These Bible references included Sampson and Delilah from the Book of Judges and King David. In his own words he explains the meaning of this now classic love song in a interview from 2012.
"This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled,"
"But there are moments when we can ... reconcile and embrace the whole mess,
and that's what I mean by 'Hallelujah.'"
Leonard Cohen performs Hallelujah 2009 Live
The first recording of Hallelujah had little success, and it was not played much in the United States. John Cale recorded the song in 1991, it was then chosen for the movie Shrek in 2001. Since his original recording in 1984 there have been over a hundred versions of the song performed or recorded. Hallelujah has also become a popular song for weddings as seen in this 2014 video of Chris and Leah O'Kane's wedding where Father Ray Kelly wrote the lyrics and performed the song for the couple.
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