Note - I am not religious. Spiritual, absolutely; religious - not.
Thus any resemblance to known deities, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3Fkuq5Lf0Q

The spirit lived, but had no form
she sang a note, and I was born
I did not love her well enough though, did I?
Though cries of pain was all I heard,
she gave me life, from her I learned
the shaping of the world in "Hallelujah!"

Hallelujah x 4

There was no light in my eyes,
she sang a note and all was bright,
the sun, the moon, my sisters all around me.
The day was day, the night was night,
between them all that I could find
was her sweet voice singing Hallelujah.

Hallelujah x 4

I swam in oceans, she was there
I said I'd rather not be here
I did not love her well enough then, now did I?
From waves of wrath, she brought the land
upon which I now once more stand
and see the heavens tremble with Hallelujah.

Hallelujah x 4

I told her I don't know what for
she brought me hither, but I will fall
with nothing on my lips and in me
except the One, the feeble, weak
the "I Am That", which I will shriek
with dying lips, and burn with "Hallelujah!"

Hallelujah...

It's a popular thing these days to talk about being spiritual and not religious. Neither one of them put food on the table.

Originally Posted by Jim Colyer

It's a popular thing these days to talk about being spiritual and not religious. Neither one of them put food on the table.

...and the point of this post is...?

Well. Leonard Cohen, and OrchestraInside, (please) continue to amaze me

Originally Posted by RickeyJoe

I'd like to note that Religion is worthless. While I say that, I do believe in God and Christ and Christ as my savior, I do not however, consider it my religion. Religion is confining and causes problems. My belief in God and my relationship with him is a personal one that is not defined by what some dogmatic man or woman behind a pulpit proclaims. That being said, I really enjoyed reading this set of lyrics but I do not have a line by line critique of it, as I rarely ever do. So all I can say is what I usually say, I like it and good job.

I like to think that there's always a reason for everything being the way it is... There's a reason religion exists. Much evil has been done in its name... Worthless? I don't know. I don't need it myself.

I'm normally not quite so openly cynical but i believe that religion is often used falsely as a front for prejudices or hatred against another sect or collection of people and so religion itself gets the short end of the stick when actually there are other agenda at work.

As for your lyrics OI my opinion is that they transcend religion and go more to the heart of a coexistence between someone and something, another person or even nature or the world itself....or even a person coming to some kind of terms with self...and i love the writing itself, another nice and interesting creative exercise. 2 thumbs up for this one

All i'm saying is that it seems that this could also be about the Divine Feminine which is anti-religion in a lot if people's minds and that is only to say again that it "could" be about whatever may already exist and carry weight in the reader/listener's mind.

edit....no i'm not a subscriber to the Divine Feminine, it was just an example of how this could be taken differently by one person or another.

Thanks Teshka. I didn't write about religion, nor do I think that Leonard did in his original lyrics (whichever of the several versions one listens to).

I just realised yesterday when I re-read this that this could be life itself struggling to come to terms with the pain of existing... I certainly feel that I am not always nearly as grateful for existing as I'd like to be.

But as always, there's an underlying sensation of something not easily captured with words, and the reader/listener is invited to feel whatever s/he wishes to feel in the lyrics. Hallelujah is Cohen's most popular song, and the Youtube comments witness of people experiencing and interpreting it in dozens of different ways. They are only united in enjoying it... And those two things, two me, are the hallmark of greatness.