This is an engineer's reaction to the first verse of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
Last night, while watching the documentary "Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song" on Netflix, I kept being struck by the first verse: "Now I've heard there was a secret cord / That David played, and it pleased the Lord / But you don't really care for music, do ya? / It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth / The minor fall, the major lift / The baffled king composing Hallelujah". 1/
Why is the line "…you don't really care for music…" there? And why does it go on to break a third wall and reveal some mechanics of writing a beloved song? 2/
@danb Apologies if someone has already responded. I realize this post is months old.
It is not a secret “cord,” it’s a secret “chord.” In 1 Samuel: Whenever the evil spirit from God bothered Saul, David would play his harp. Saul would relax and feel better, and the evil spirit would go away.
That is why the reference to music is there.
@suckeffect No apologies needed. It was a spelling typo that was caught soon thereafter.
@danb classic song, regardless.