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Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah Lyrics 20 years ago
Also as a tip to cohen initiates, 50% of cohen's songs are about sex and 100% of those are much more explicit than they appear at first. Hallelujah is pretty tame(even though he does mention "[coming]" in the final verse, take a gander at chelsea hotel if you want a smattering on how detailed the sexual explicitness can get! He rhymed "giving me head" with bed!

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Leonard Cohen – Chelsea Hotel #2 Lyrics 20 years ago
Leonard's publicist unbeknownst to Leonard revealed that this song was bout his secret affair with Janis Joplin. While it did great for the record publicity, it really angered Cohen that someone he trusted had leaked the info. Although I'm sure the sogn would ahve been just as affecting without the history of the story I still can't ever listen to this song without picturing the heady(sex crazed) leonard coupling with the physical(sex crazed) joplin. And no, it's anot a pretty image.

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Leonard Cohen – Famous Blue Raincoat Lyrics 20 years ago
Leonard Cohen has stated many times over this song was a failure. Despite the popularity of it amongst his fans he has always felt that this song never said anything on what most consider his masterpiece album. The fact that it sits so close to his most dense songs ever(man of the year and jon of arc) was a testament to how much lyrical thought he put into those. While a brilliant atmosphere piece, leonard has always(in interviews) denied there is any significant story behind or to this song other than it's mere existence as a straightforward piece of fition.

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Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah Lyrics 20 years ago
I'd like to point out the lyrics in this version quoted and that in one of his published poetry books contain differnt lyrics.

The imagery itself is rather simplistic and obvious. It's leonard's song about the orgasm. The first verse deals with the creation of the myth of the bliss of the orgasm and the second verse is the promise and preperation.

The following verse/chorus lonard himself cut out in various live recordings which appeared at later dates in in his published work:
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

But it is just a reaffirmation of the myth and a statement that every single motion man makes is towards taht one blissful moment of orgasm, even for sexually underwhelming people as he reveals himself to be in the final verse.

Yes religious imagery and all; it is still only about the myth of the orgasm an to leonard, the truth of it. Ultimately leonard has come to face with the truth of his sexual shortcomings(premature ejaculator-final verse).

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