Last month a guitarist named James Hargreaves posted a YouTube video [1] proposing a fascinating theory about the hidden chord that Cohen refers to in the first verse of Hallelujah (“Now I've heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord”).
In the video, Hargreaves makes the case that the hidden chord is the third chord. It would be unplayable on an instrument tuned at the time of King David, and it is the chord that Cohen plays in the chord progression in the first verse under the word ‘composing.’ He then links this up with the ‘third cord’ (no h) from Ecclesiastes which indicates God blessing a marriage by being the third person in the marriage. This then explains the reference “But you don't really care for music, do you?“ and the second verse which talks about King David and his affair with Bathsheba. Hargreaves then goes even further and suggests Cohen might have had an affair like King David and wrote this song to claim it was true love and blessed by God, as the third cord.
Not sure how real this all is. But given that Cohen took years to write the song it would be quite likely there is a deeper meaning.
In the video, Hargreaves makes the case that the hidden chord is the third chord. It would be unplayable on an instrument tuned at the time of King David, and it is the chord that Cohen plays in the chord progression in the first verse under the word ‘composing.’ He then links this up with the ‘third cord’ (no h) from Ecclesiastes which indicates God blessing a marriage by being the third person in the marriage. This then explains the reference “But you don't really care for music, do you?“ and the second verse which talks about King David and his affair with Bathsheba. Hargreaves then goes even further and suggests Cohen might have had an affair like King David and wrote this song to claim it was true love and blessed by God, as the third cord.
Not sure how real this all is. But given that Cohen took years to write the song it would be quite likely there is a deeper meaning.
[1] https://youtu.be/mp9hYxw-Q6I?si=OUB8W5m5dSckBOG2