The Ernest Chronicler

I'm sure that everyone knows the song "Hallelujah" originally by Leonard Cohen but made popular by Jeff Buckley. I first heard it in a movie that my friends brought to that I probably shouldn't have seen. Scratch that. I first heard it on Shrek, but the version wasn't good. It was brought to my attention again a few months ago when I was obsessed with a YouTube cover artist named Kina Grannis. You might remember her from this post. She did a cover of it and I thought it was the greatest. I printed out the guitar chords and started learning it, kind of mumbling the parts about being tied to the kitchen chair and the cries heard at night. But I kind of understood the reference to David and Bathsheba and the reference to Samson and Delilah. My parents really liked the song so I started singing it without the mumbling and they were still ok with it.

Tonight I showed Dad the various versions of the song to see which his favorite was. He had never heard of Buckley or Cohen before and really liked both versions, especially Cohen's. We were trying to think why that song is so appealing. I think that it perfectly expresses the emotions of a broken soul learning to experience the grace of God. I don't know what the religious beliefs of Cohen or Buckley are, but it doesn't matter. It is the song of David after "the incident" and the cry of Samson before he pulls down the pillars. And it is the song of anyone who knows that they are broken and want to give God what they have, a bunch of loose ends. I think that is it.
Here is a link to Cohen's best performance of it that I've seen (embedding has been disabled):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttv5dyvtF4o
Feel free to post any thoughts on the song.