kd Lang Hallelujah and the Olympic Hymn brought spirit to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. After the tragic luge killed video showing the demise of 21 year old athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Olympic hymn and k. d. Lang Hallelujah soothed the audience.

The Olympic Hymn is informally known as the Olympic Anthem. The Olympic Hymn is a choral cantata by Spyridon Samaras, an opera composer, on lyrics by Kostis Palamas, a Greek poet. Demetrius Vikelas, the first president of the International Olympic Committee, chose the poet and composer of the Olympic Hymn.

The Olympic Hymn lyrics from Wikipedia are as follows:

Olympian flame immortal

Whose beacon lights our way

Emblaze our hearts with the fires of hope

On this momentous day

As now we come across the world

To share these Games of old

Let all the flags of every land

In brotherhood unfold

Sing out each nation, voices strong

Rise up in harmony

All hail our brave Olympians

With strains of victory

Olympic light burn on and on

O’er seas and mountains and plains

Unite, inspire, bring honor

To these ascending games

May valor reign victorious

Along the path of golden way

As tomorrow’s new champions now come forth

Rising to the fervent spirit of the game

Let splendour pervade each noble deed

Crowned with glory and fame

And let fraternity and fellowship

Surround the soul of every nation

Oh flame, eternal in your firmament so bright

Illuminate us with your everlasting light

That grace and beauty and magnificence

Shine like the sun

Blazing above

Bestow on us your honor, truth and love.

lyrics of Leonard Cohen from the kd Lang Hallelujah performance from AZ Lyrics:

Now 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
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

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, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Baby I have 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 it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

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 Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

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 Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Here are YouTube videos of the Olympic Hymn and kd Lang Hallelujah