A Hallelujah, Blue and Black
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
In the calling out to one another
Of the lovers up and down the strand
In the sound of the waves and the cries
Of the seagulls circling the sand
In the fragments of the songs
Carried down the wind from some radio
In the murmuring of the city in the distance
Ominous and low
I hear the sound of the world where we played
And the far too simple beauty
Of the promises we made
There are things we have done that we question, there are questions that we've asked that we regret learning the answers to. But in all things, there is love, and in all things, there is pain. And it's the balance, and how we hold the tension as we breathe, that matters.
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, she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah
Hallelujah
If you ever need holding
Call my name, I'll be there
If you ever need holding
And no holding back, I'll see you through
Sky blue and black
Where the touch of the lover ends
And the soul of the friend begins
Theres a need to be separate and a need to be one
And a struggle neither wins
Where you gave me the world I was in
And a place I could make a stand
I could never see how you doubted me
When I'd let go of your hand
In this world we have two things: we have ourselves, and we have other people. Sometimes we're strong enough to go it alone. Sometimes we need to know that we can go it alone. And sometimes, at the moment we least expect it, others will try to carry us. We may need it and we may not, we may want it and we may not, but there is always a breathless moment of gratitude before the thought process kicks in, and that's what gets us up in the morning.
Baby I've been here before, I know this room
I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and its a broken hallelujah
Hallelujah
Yeah, and I was much younger then
And I must have thought that I would know
If things were going to end
And the heavens were rolling
Like a wheel on a track
And our sky was unfolding
And it'll never fold back
Sky blue and black
There is not a soul on this earth that has not known regret. There is not a person known to God who has not screamed "How dare You!" into the night. It is not that we expect an answer, Lord, it is simply that we do not know what else to do as we catch our breath from the onslaught.
There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
I remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was hallelujah
Hallelujah
And I'd have fought the world for you
If I thought that you wanted me to
Or put aside what was true or untrue
If I'd known thats what you needed
What you needed me to do
But the moment has passed by me now
To have put away my pride
And just come through for you somehow
If you ever need holding
Call my name, I'll be there
If you ever need holding
And no holding back, I'll see you through
No matter who we are or who we've known, we think we've had a perfect moment. Perhaps it was of love or joy or exultation, but surely it was a perfect moment. In that moment, we forget the pain that got us there, in that moment, our suffering is shunted aside. And that is what makes it perfect, and that is what bars us from ever having a truly perfect moment, if we are willing to limit a perfect breath to one without pain.
Maybe theres a God above, all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who out drew you
And it's not a cry you can hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and its a broken hallelujah
Hallelujah
You're the color of the sky
Reflected in each store-front window pane
You're the whispering and the sighing
Of my tires in the rain
You're the hidden cost and the thing thats lost
In everything I do
Yeah and I'll never stop looking for you
In the sunlight and the shadows
And the faces on the avenue
Thats the way love is
Thats the way love is
Thats the way love is
Sky blue and black
In the end, there is the way that things are and the way that they never will be. But the breath goes on.
Hallelujah