Those lines are arguably the most unique in this much loved and often altered song. There are a few other songs about themselves--"Song Sung Blue," "PF Sloane," "This Song," "Your Song," and "Piano Man" among others. But I can't think of any other that incorporates such a technical self-description into the lyrics. The nearest analog would be the way James Brown often narrates the structure of a song as he delivers it ("Take it to the bridge!" "Can I hit it and quit it?").

So if you omitted that line you'd have lost the most characteristic aspect of the original. The chorus is beautiful, but it's far from being the only song to repeat the line "Hallelujah" over and over.

Those lines are arguably the most unique in this much loved and often altered song. There are quite a few other songs about themselves--"Song Sung Blue," "PF Sloane," "This Song," "Your Song," and "Piano Man" among others. But I can't think of a single other that incorporates such a technical self-description into the lyrics, particularly with such artfulness. The nearest analog would be the way James Brown often narrates the structure of a song as he delivers it ("Take it to the bridge!" "Can I hit it and quit it?").

So if you omitted that line you'd have lost the most characteristic aspect of the original. The chorus is beautiful, but it's far from being the only song to repeat the line "Hallelujah" over and over.