Hallelujah - chords and lyrics

[asterroc]

A few days ago the_xtina posted this link with a billion covers of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. Well I realized it had to be a pretty simple song on the guitar after the Wikipedia article explained that "the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift" was backed up by the chords, which were all ones I know. So below I grabbed the chords, and have compiled a bunch of different lyrics.

Source for Chords/Tabs

Date: Sat, 9 Jul 2005 22:44:57 +1000
From: Derek Bolli
Subject: c/cohen_leonard/hallelujah.crd

Hallelujah
music and lyrics by Leonard Cohen
lyrics from http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/scrubs/hallelujah.htm
transcription by Andrew Koehn and Philip von der Borch

Standard tuning EADGBe

Chords:
C 332010
Am 002210
F 133211
G 320003 or 320033
Em 022000

Arpeggio something like this,
using whatever chord is played
e--------------x---------------------
B-----------------x------------------
G--------x-----------x--------------
D-----x------------------------------
A--x---------------------------------
E------------------------------------

Intro:
C Am C Am C Am C Am

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

Chorus:
F Am F C G C G
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelu - jah

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

F Am F C G C G
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelu - jah

Baby I've 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, Hallelu - jah

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

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelu - jah

Maybe there's a God above, all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who out drew you
And it's not a cry you can hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelu - jah


Take care,


Derek Bolli, Head Hacker,
Bolli World HQ Computing Facility,
Hornsby NSW 2077
Sydney, Australia email: dbolli at bigpond dot net dot au (home)

Source for one lyrics - these seem to be the most commonly used in covers.

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

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

Source for lyrics 2 - a few verses from this version are occasionally added in covers.

Hallelujah

Baby, I've been here before.
I know this room, I've walked this floor.
I used to live alone before I knew you.

Yeah I've seen your flag on the marble arch,
But listen, love is not some kind of victory march,
No it's a cold and it's a very broken Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, (Hallelujah...)

There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below,
Ah but now you never show it to me, do you?

Yeah but I remember, yeah when I moved in you,
And the holy dove, she was moving too,
Yes every single breath that we drew was Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Maybe there's a God above,
As for me, all I've ever seemed to learn from love
Is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you.

Yeah but it's not a complaint that you hear tonight,
It's not the laughter of someone who claims to have seen the light
No it's a cold and it's a very lonely Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

I did my best, it wasn't much.
I couldn't feel, so I learned to touch.
I've told the truth, I didn't come all this way to fool you.

Yeah even tough it all went wrong
I'll stand right here before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my lips but Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

And now off to try it out instead of grading. ;)

Edit:
Here's my favorite organization of the verses I know. If you cut'n'paste into Word, 10pt Arial font, two column, it nicely fits on a single page.

Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen

C Am C Am C Am C Am

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

F Am F C G C G
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, she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Baby I've 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?
I remember when I moved in you
And 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.

Maybe there's a God above,
But all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who out drew you
And it's not a cry/complaint that you hear tonight
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken/lonely Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Comments

[the1hobbit.livejournal.com]

I've loved this song for a long time! The best version (beyond the original) I've heard done of it is the one done by Rufus Wainright. Fantastico! good luck!

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, his version's quite good. K.D. Lang's pretty good as well.