This is such a beautiful song, but I never liked the ending, so I rewrote it. My lyrics, this recording, and my arrangement are available under a Creative Commons BY-NC license, meaning you are free to download and distribute them as long as you give me credit and don’t make any money.
Update: I should probably credit Leonard Cohen’s original version). I should also mention that the feel and message of the song varies a lot between its 200 covers. Cohen himself released two versions of this song on two different albums - one biblical and more hopeful, the other secular and more depressing. He wrote around 80 verses, but only selected a few for these final arrangements. The version you probably know is a cover by John Cale and was used in the movie Shrek. My version is most closely based on Jeff Buckley’s cover.
Hallelujah
Hallelujah by Michael Limiero is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
I 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 and the major lift
The baffled king composing hallelujah
Hallelujah (x4)
Your faith was strong, but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in 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
Hallelujah (x4)
Seems like I’ve been here before
I know this room and I’ve walked this floor
I used to be alone before I knew You
So now the song that I sing at night
Is wondering when I will find the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah
Hallelujah (x4)
“Child,” I can hear You say,
“However far you run away,
Remember that my love will still pursue you.
Remember when I moved in you
And the Holy Dove was moving too
And every breath you drew was hallelujah”
Hallelujah (x4)
Surely there’s a God above
For the mystery and the joy of love
Is when you’re broken, how it can renew you
Suddenly, I feel Your hand
And in Your presence I cannot stand
I’m on my knees proclaiming hallelujah
Hallelujah (x12)