Hallelujah

I will freely admit to having never heard this song before it appeared in The Watchmen. The Leonard Cohen version seemed very clunky and comical to me. I read something about them thinking about using the Allison Crowe cover, but that it was too tender for what Zack Snyder wanted to be an ultimately silly moment (two people stripping off their rubber costumes to have sex in a giant mechanical owl). I was intrigued. I looked it up.

Here is Allison Crowe's version of •Hallelujah• and it is quite beautiful.


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?
Well, it goes like this the forth, the fifth
The minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Well, your faith was strong, but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne, she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew that hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Wel,l baby, I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
But, love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, 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 you?
But, remember when I moved in you
And the Holy ghost was moving too
And every breath we drew was hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Well, maybe there is a God above
But, all that I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
And it's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it is a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah