The whole reason behind the Devil's Interval was that it was dissonant, a half-step below the perfect fifth that typically symbolized purity in music. In the case of 'Hallelujah' at least, the chord seems to be C major, which is also the key of the song. He knew his chords is what we're trying to say, and there are legends of tones or notes so pleasing to God or the gods that they curry favor going back into antiquity. Still, David is credited with soothing Saul with song and starting the concept of Temple singing. Of course, so was the antichrist Nero, so take it with a grain of Lot's wife. There are more references to David later in the song, in Cohen's lyrics about seeing a woman bathing on the roof (David saw Bathsheba taking a bath). We're not talking about the Morning Star's iPod, though, we're talking about the chord or key that gets Big G's toes tapping. Is there a secret chord that God likes? We know that there's one that gives Satan a major stiffy, the 'Devil's Interval,' which has been banned in liturgy for years because hearing it invokes infernal thoughts. That David played, and it pleased the Lordīut you don't really care for music, do you? You can't say that Wainwright doesn't do the tune justice, but while we were listening to it we started wondering about the lyrics for the first time. It's a good cover, even if Wainwright's use of 'you' instead of 'ya' kills the rhyme scheme. Last week's word was ' wainwright' and to celebrate we showcased Rufus Wainwright's cover of the Leonard Cohen hit 'Hallelujah.'

The second is tying in the simple joy of our word-a-day calendar to different songs. One is predicting the end of the world you won't believe this, but this week we found absolutely nothing in Revelation that seemed relevant.

The secret chord