Jordan Smith of ‘The Voice’ Says ‘Hallelujah’

Jordan Smith of ‘The Voice’ Says ‘Hallelujah’ November 30, 2015

Jordan-Smith-The-Voice

Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” has a beautiful, plaintive melody paired with vaguely Old Testament-ty lyrics that, if not exactly anti-religious, are religiously ambivalent.

Now 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 and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

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

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

But Jordan Smith, a contestant on NBC’s “The Voice” — who previously wowed the audience with a straight-up hymn — nailed the performance on Monday, Nov. 30.

Christian performers have attempted to rework the lyrics of “Hallelujah” to make them overtly about Jesus. Here’s an Evangelical Christmas version and a Catholic Easter version. They’re both performed well, but I gotta tell ya, I’ll take Cohen’s elegiac if theologically confused poetry over either of these. Maybe someone will nail the Christian “Hallelujah” one day — in all its mournful beauty — but it hasn’t happened yet.

Keep trying, guys!

Image: Courtesy NBC

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