Hallelujah

I am writing this from on top of a hill, looking down over my home town. Honestly, there is no where else I would rather be.

Now, the blog gods really seem to know that it is Easter as they have given me yet another religious title. At first I looked through the newspaper websites in search of an interesting article but somehow nothing struck me as right.

It is amazing the impact this single word has- it seems to sum up so much in just four syllables. It is not surprising that the song from which I have taken the title has had over 100 different recordings and it is not, as writer Leonard Cohen suggested because ‘it has a good chorus’. It is more than that- it is religious, magical- a cry of joy.

It is not something that I can easily explain but it is a song which is easy to loose yourself in. I am not surprised to learn that it took two years to write, a similar time span that some writers spend on 100,000 word novels. It is also not surprising that so much protest sprung up when, just over a year ago, X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke did her cover version. It is a song that means a great deal to a lot of people.

Moving on from the song to the feeling- to the Hallelujah itself. In the past few posts I have spoken a lot about religions and happiness… well, that is pretty much all I have written about- if I keep this up I’ll slowly become a religious blogger which is strange for someone lacking any sort of religion. Anyway, the point being that hallelujah is more than that- more than happines and a religion. It may be a cry of joy but to me it isn’t the same joy that one might feel on their wedding day or after passing an important exam. It is a joy tinted with sadness. It is facing hideous adversity and still making it through to the other side. You might be a little ragged around the edges but the joy is that you survived. The sadness is in what you left behind. Not everyone can experience that type of joy, and it takes a talented writer to evoke such emotion in their readers.

When I reach that hallelujah moment in my novel I just hope I have the skill to suggest even a fraction of what Cohen achieved with this song.

Here’s hoping I have a less religious title for tomorrow’s post.