150303 the parent-child hallelujah: a heretical exegesis of one of the songs of Leonard, the Bard

150303  the parent-child hallelujah

a heretical exegesis of one of the songs of Leonard, the Bard

“Baby, I've been here before.
I know this room, I've walked this floor”.
It occurred to me that many a mother or father could have sung this couplet slowly walking a sick, colicky or wakeful child at 2 in the morning.  I mentioned this to Miriam, my daughter, who said that yes, there are other lines that add to this perspective:

“I used to live alone before I knew you.”

“Yeah I've seen your flag on the marble arch,
But listen, love is not some kind of victory march,
No it's a cold and it's a very broken Hallelujah.”

(Again, the 2 in the morning image.)   And she added, “Ammon’s children tell him that they hate Leonard Cohen’s songs.

So now we have “But you don't really care for music, do you?”

And, if you read listen further, and let your imagination be open, the other lines have interesting alternate meanings as well. Some of them better than the standard:

“There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below,
Ah but now you never show it to me, do you?”

(Many a parent, wishes they understood more what their children were thinking doing it cared about.)

“Yeah. But I remember, yeah. When I moved in you,
And the holy dove, she was moving too,
Yes every single breath that we drew was Hallelujah.

(Yes, I know the standard interpretation works stunningly. But consider the little child singing back to her mother about before, and as, she was born.)

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
 

(And consider the games we play as children and occasionally as parents with children.)

”Maybe there's a God above,
As for me, all I've ever seemed to learn from love
Is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you. “