Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah

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I don’t really find it proper to the Mass either. One priest from behind the altar sang it at a wedding ceremony in Ireland a few years ago.
 
I love the song and think it’s beautiful but haven’t heard his version.
 
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I’ve heard his version. It’s quite good. I always love hearing the songwriter’s version which is often quite different than the artist the song was written for.
 
on_the_hill said:
trite: clichéd, commonplace, stock, conventional, stereotyped, overused, overdone, overworked, stale, worn out, timeworn, tired, hoary, unimaginative, unoriginal, uninteresting, dull, uninvolving;
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Can you think of another word for ‘thesaurus’?
 
I agree that it shouldn’t be used at mass.

Awhile back, an Easter rendition was used at Easter Sunday mass at the Basilica. Not appropriate.

Also, it seems to be one of those songs that NEVER goes away permanently.
 
Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to her kitchen chair
And she broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Well there was a time when you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show that to me do ya
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Now, you tell me, is that appropriate for Mass?
 
Exactly. And changing the words to the song after you have already heard it doesn’t help. So for me, it’s a big fat nope.
 
When your kids hear it at Mass, they then hear it on the radio and want to “turn it up!”

As I have stated before, I am a Cohen fan. My phone has three of his albums on it. I’d not play them for Mass.
 
@TheLittleLady It is rather disappointing that it’s been played at Mass…

I am glad that this version of the song does not have most of the verses (I think the first 3?) and not the last one you mentioned.
 
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😄 that’s quite a large margin for the number of verses
I know I heard a singer named Bradley Will Simpson sing other verses than I was familiar with and that explains why.
 
I love the renditions of it I’ve heard. (Pentatonix, Kate McKinon after the 2016 election, and Gregorian: Masters of the Chant). But I would agree it’s not a Mass song.
 
The ‘bathing on the roof’ section directly references the story of David and Bathsheba. I suppose you’ll object next time that particular scripture passage is read out on Mass - so inappropriate!

As for the ‘remember when I moved in you’ - well, it is no racier than parts of Song of Songs. Which again would not be inappropriate to read out in Mass.
 
Interestingly enough, people can make distinctions between reading Scripture (this account is in Year II of the Daily Mass cycle IIRC) which does not glamorize nor glorify the sin of adultery and song lyrics which do glamorize and glorify adultery.

In the entire 2 year/3 year cycle of readings, 7 verses of the Song of Songs read (none if it was read in the older cycle of readings). It is allowed as a Wedding reading.

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Scripture does not speak of this adultery as if it were some beautiful thing. It is a warning, a story of someone committing a grave sin. A story of murder and lies.

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2 Samuel, CHAPTER 11

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It is presented very matter of factly:

One evening David rose from his bed and strolled about on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof he saw a woman bathing; she was very beautiful. David sent people to inquire about the woman and was told, “She is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, and wife of Uriah the Hittite, Joab’s armor-bearer.”

Then David sent messengers and took her. When she came to him, he took her to bed, at a time when she was just purified after her period; and she returned to her house.

But the woman had become pregnant; she sent a message to inform David, “I am pregnant.”

The account goes on to tell how David had Bathsheba’s husband killed, then David took her to be his wife.

The chapter ends:

But in the sight of the LORD what David had done was evil.

See the difference?
 
I never said the adultery between David and Bathsheba was some beautiful thing.
 
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