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 alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah,
alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof.
You saw her bathing on the roof.
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you.
She tied you to a kitchen chair,
she broke your throne, and she cut your hair
and from your lips she drew alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah,
alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah.
You say I took the name in vain.
I don’t even know the name.
But if I did, well, really, what’s it to you?
There’s a blaze of light in every word;
it doesn’t matter which you heard:
the holy or the broken alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah,
alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah.
I did my best, it wasn’t much.
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch.
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you.
And even though it all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
with nothing on my tongue but alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah,
alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah.