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Hallelujah Lyrics
I've been a desperate man
I've been sheltered by a lonely dream
There's a stranger here
Looking back above the bathroom sink
Every night I throw you out
Leave you stranded on the boulevard
You know that I use you up
I used you like I used a mop
Well the band's singing hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You're all gone. Yeah, you're all gone.
If I could have a simple love
How would it feel and what would it mean?
I'd only trade you away
For Mary Magdalene
Oh, it wouldn't make me insane
And it would make me the king
And I wouldn't have to wait
Wait around for the real thing
Well the band's singing hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You're all gone. Yeah, you're all gone.
Hallelujah
You're all gone. Oh yeah, yeah, hey.
I think I read that this has something to do with Ryan being artistically imprisoned while he was with Whiskeytown, even though the song was written after they broke up.
In 2002, Ryan said "That's from a session I called '48 Hours' which was recorded straight after I'd finished 'Gold'. I called Ethan Johns (producer) and said I'd got more songs I needed to record. I thought I had a whole other record. 'Hallelujah' was written when I was living in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. I was looking for a way to express a bunch of crap I'd been dealing with and 'Hallelujah' was the happy accident that came out. I finished the lyrics seconds before I recorded it. It's vague but to the point."
Bathroom scene
Bathroom scene
I used you like I used 'em all
I used you like I used 'em all
It wouldn't make me a saint It wouldn't make me a king
It wouldn't make me a saint It wouldn't make me a king
check the superb live rendition on this page: archive.org/details/ryanadams2006-10-17.sbd.flac16
it's a shame that there are so many mistakes in the transcription here. it kinda hides the fact that the lyrics are absolutely tremendous.
...bathroom scene...
...I used you up, I used you like I used 'em all
...trade you in For a Mary Magdalene
It wouldn't make me a saint It wouldn't make me a king But then I wouldn't have to wait Wait around for the real thing
With the band playing...
This is my favorite ryan song and that's saying a lot . I just realized tonight that it is about waking up one morning with someone and realizing you don't really have feelings for them. It's about yearning for that person who really makes you feel alive and in love. The hallelujah chorus line is a tribute to that feeling you get from someone you are utterly smitten by. This song also has undertones of honest realization of ones delusions in terms of what he or she can realistically gain from a certain situation in life, then realizing that letting go is the first step in moving on.
I'm pretty sure this song is about letting go.