Strange Day ... and Hallelujah

Today has been a strange day. It started off well. Lots of productivity. Housecleaning and laundry and playing with and tending to the cats. Assembled another fan. [I’m in an old house with 9-foot ceilings, so I'm not using air-conditioning unless the outdoor temp is above 80 degrees.]

Something changed in early afternoon when the Web sucked me in. Started trying to find old friends and co-workers on Facebook, the Web, etc. One thing led to another. And melancholy set in. Eventually, I went over to Facebook, where I have not been keeping up with “status updates” for a couple of weeks.

H/t to Catherine for pointing me to this video of K.D. Lang singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” I don’t know why this song gets to me so deeply. But it does. I don’t think it’s the lyrics. I think it’s the strange mix of melancholy and praise in the music. I’ve been there so very often. I'm there today.

Nobody does it better. It takes a torch-song diva to do it justice. And K.D. Lang does it just right. Enjoy. Or cry in your beer. Whichever seems more appropriate.


Or go directly to YouTube.

Addendum: Playing around on YouTube, I found this earlier version with K.D. Lang. Not such a big production, but all the passion. I could watch and listen to her for hours. Oops! What am I saying? I already have been watching and listening for hours. So here's the earlier version.



Here are the lyrics, courtesy of this site:

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 in 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 halleujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe 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 real and going on below
but now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there's a God above
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
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, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah…