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Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen song)

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"Hallelujah"
Song

"Hallelujah" is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen originally released on his 1984 studio album Various Positions. A significantly changed live recording of the song from 1988 was released on the 1994 album, Cohen Live, but neither version achieved wide success outside of Cohen's fans.

First covered by John Cale in 1991, Hallelujah has since been recorded over 180 times by different artists,[1] been the subject of a BBC radio documentary and been featured in the soundtracks of numerous movies and television shows.[2] In the UK, the two most commercially successful cover singles have been by Alexandra Burke and Jeff Buckley, whose versions occupied the number one and two spots, respectively, of the UK pop charts in December 2008.

Writing and recording

"Hallelujah" was originally written and composed over the course of a year, and is said to have been a frustrating and difficult process for Cohen.[2] Cohen says he wrote at least eighty verses, filling two notebooks - discarding most of the verses in the process of crafting the song. [3]

Musical composition

"Hallelujah", in its original studio version, is a 4 minute 39 second song in C major.[4] The released live version, with its different lyrical content, clocks in at 6:54. On the song's melody, Rufus Wainwright has commented that "It's an easy song to sing. The music never pummels the words. The melody is almost liturgical and conjures up religious feelings. It's purifying."[3] In the section of the lyrics "the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift", the chords move as described in the lyrics as follows: F ("the fourth", in the tonality of C major), G ("the fifth"), Am ("the minor fall"), F ("the major lift").[4]

Lyrical interpretation

The original recording contains multiple biblical references in the lyrics, alluding to David's harp-playing used to soothe King Saul (1 Samuel 16:23), and his later affair with Bathsheba after watching her bathe from his roof (2 Samuel 11:2). The line "she broke your throne and she cut your hair" is a reference to the source of Samson's strength from the Book of Judges 16. The third verse mentions "the name" (Tetragrammaton). Jeff Buckley described his own rendition of the song as an homage to "the hallelujah of the orgasm".[5]

In 1994, Cohen released a substantially different version on the 1994 live album Cohen Live, retaining only the final verse from the original recording. In this version, the lyrics became more sexual, and the song's structure was slightly reworked.

Since his original studio album version, live performances by Leonard Cohen almost invariably include the final song verses not performed by Cale and many others. Many cover artists mix lyrics from both versions, and occasionally make direct lyric changes such as Rufus Wainwright singing "holy dark" and Allison Crowe singing "Holy Ghost" rather than "holy dove". Although individual words do change among various versions, apart from such examples of clear revision by interpreters, any variation may be due to selection from Cohen's complete lyrics rather than alterations by the cover artist.

Cover versions

In recent years "Hallelujah" has been performed by a large number and broad range of artists, both on recordings and in concert. RIAA, CRIA, ARIA and IFPI statistics alone show that, prior to late 2008, more than five million copies of the song sold in CD format. Top-selling versions included those by Rufus Wainwright and Jeff Buckley. As well, Buckley's 1994 studio version of Hallelujah was certified platinum, for sales over one million, as a single by the RIAA on April 22, 2008. The song has enjoyed renewed commercial success as a digital download single in the UK in late 2008, when a version by X Factor winner Alexandra Burke and Jeff Buckley's best known version made the number 1 and 2 positions respectively in the UK Singles Chart. Burke's version sold 576,046 copies, and Buckley's sold 80,883.[citation needed]

Audio samples of versions that underscore some of the very different ways Hallelujah has been interpreted over the decades: Template:Sound sample box align right

Jeff Buckley "Hallelujah" cover excerpt
From the album Grace released in 1994. In 2007, Sony BMG rereleased the album (subtitle "The Legacy Edition") with a live music video of the song.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

John Cale

Welsh singer-songwriter John Cale recorded a cover version of "Hallelujah", which appeared on the 1991 Leonard Cohen tribute album I'm Your Fan and, again, on Cale's 1992 live album Fragments of a Rainy Season. Cale's version featured vocals, piano, and lyrics Cohen only had performed live. In a 2001 interview with The Observer, John Cale said: After I saw [Cohen] perform at the Beacon I asked if I could have the lyrics to "Hallelujah". When I got home one night there were fax paper rolls everywhere because Leonard had insisted on supplying all 15 verses. Cale says he "went through and just picked out the cheeky verses."[3] His version was featured in the 1996 film, Basquiat, as well as the 2001 animated film, Shrek.[6]

Jeff Buckley

The late American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley, inspired by Cale's earlier cover version, recorded one of the best-known cover versions of "Hallelujah" for his 1994 studio album, Grace. Buckley, not wholly satisfied with any one take, recorded more than twenty takes, three of which producer Andy Wallace took and mixed to create a single track.

In 2004, Jeff Buckley's version was ranked #259 on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In September 2007, a poll of fifty songwriters conducted by Q Magazine listed "Hallelujah" among the all-time "Top 10 Greatest Tracks" with John Legend calling Buckley's version "as near perfect as you can get". Buckley's first #1 came posthumously in March 2008 when "Hallelujah" topped Billboard's Hot Digital Songs following a performance of the song by Jason Castro on American Idol.

This Cover Version was part of the Lord of War Soundtrack of the year 2004[7]. Buckley's version has also been used at the end of the House episode "Acceptance", and in an episode of The West Wing.

In 2008 Buckley's cover of the song peaked at number 2 in the Christmas edition of the UK Singles Chart, the first time the song had appeared in the UK top 40, following a campaign to raise it higher in the chart than Alexandra Burke's version (also released by Sony).

Rufus Wainwright

Although John Cale's version was used in the film itself, his version did not feature in the movie soundtrack album, Shrek: Music from the Original Motion Picture. Canadian musician Rufus Wainwright recorded a version similar to Cale's, also using piano, and his version was used on the soundtrack album.[8] The Shrek soundtrack containing Wainwright's cover was certified double-platinum in 2003 (with sales of over two million copies).

Alexandra Burke

Alexandra Burke, the winner of the fifth series of British reality television show The X Factor, recorded a cover of the song that reached the Christmas Number One spot on UK charts on 21 December 2008. The music video features footage from The X Factor, connecting the lyrics to the story of Burke's victory.[9]

The release of Burke's cover created interest in the previous versions of the song, including a Buckley fan campaign to take Buckley's cover to the top of the Christmas chart in order to deny Burke the top spot.[10][11] The campaign was fuelled by Jeff Buckley fans' dislike of The X Factor's commercialism[12] and the song's arrangement,[13] as well as a desire by this contingent to introduce younger music fans to Buckley's version.[14] Burke herself was not enamoured of the choice of song, remarking "It just didn’t do anything for me".[13]

Burke's version broke a European sales record after selling over 105,000 digital downloads in just one day, breaking the previous record set by Leona Lewis. It sold 576,000 copies in its first week, becoming the fastest selling single released by a woman in the UK, to become the Christmas number one, while Buckley's cover came second and Cohen's original version came thirty-sixth. On 28 December, 2008, the UK Singles Chart listed Burke's version as #1 biggest selling single of the year.[15][16], with NME announcing sales of over 1 million copies since its release.[17] Burke's version is now listed as the 75th biggest selling single of all time in the UK.

Alexandra Burke's version was nominated in the category Best British Single at the 2009 BRIT Awards, as voted for by the public. Burke's version eventually came 6th, after being eliminated in the fifth and final online voting round.

Other cover versions

Appearances in other media

The song has frequently been used in television shows and movies, often during scenes involving death or heartbreak.

  • It was used in the penultimate scene of The West Wing season 3 finale ("Posse Comitatus"), during which characters react to the shooting of a Secret Service agent.
  • The song was used on House M.D. at the end of the episode Acceptance (Season 2, Episode 1).
  • In an editorial context, the song has been used in the Third Watch and Without a Trace episodes dealing with the 9/11 events.
  • "Hallelujah" was played at the closing of NBC's Dateline on April 17, 2007, covering the Virginia Tech massacre. During the playing of the song, a montage of photographs regarding the events of the tragedy was displayed.
  • It was used at the end of the Ugly Betty season 2 episode A Nice Day for a Posh Wedding in which Bradford Meade suffers a heart attack during his wedding.
  • Cale's version of the song was used for the closing of the Stuff, a short film about John Frusciante in 1994 by

Johnny Depp and Gibby Haynes.

  • After the Northern Illinois University shooting in 2008, a cover version by singer Christina Marie was used during a montage of YouTube users' responses to the massacre. It was also heard at the end of a similar montage on the Fox News Tonight coverage with Shepherd Smith.
  • On the September 29, 2008 broadcast of Late Show with David Letterman, the Rufus Wainwright version was played over a farewell montage for actor Paul Newman, who had died three days earlier.
  • The song was featured three times on the teen series The OC. The first two occurrences were the Jeff Buckley version, which played in episode 1.02 as the model house burns down and in episode 1.27 as Ryan leaves Newport. The third occurrence was an a cappella version by Imogen Heap which played in episode 3.25 as Marissa dies in Ryan's arms.
  • Leonard Cohen's recording of the song features in the 2009 movie Watchmen, a film based on the famous graphic novel. The song is used in a sex scene between Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II.
  • In the final scenes of the 2004 Austrian film "The Edukators".
  • The Cale version was used at the end of the Scrubs episode entitled "My Old Lady".
  • The song is used in the 2004 film Saint Ralph near the end.
  • In the episode The Honeymoon Is Over (Season 13, Episode 23) of the medical drama ER the song (Jeff Buckley's version) is used near the end.
  • In season 5 of One Tree Hill Kate Voegele sings this song over a montage at the end of an episode.

Accolades and Achievements

  • In 2005, "Hallelujah" was named the tenth greatest Canadian song of all time in Chart magazine's annual readers' poll.
  • The BBC commemorated the 25th anniversary of the first recording with an hour-long radio documentary, "The Fourth, The Fifth, The Minor Fall", in which the song's history and numerous cover versions were presented and discussed.[20]
  • Jon Wilde of The Guardian has noted of the song, "it's rapidly on its way to becoming the most discussed and debated song of all time."[21]
  • On the 21st of December 2008, "Hallelujah" became the first song in 51 years[3] to occupy the first and second positions on the UK Singles Chart; The X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke's and American singer Jeff Buckley's covers were the two highest-selling songs in the week beginning 15 December 2008.[22]
  • In the February 2009 issue of Blender Magazine, "Hallelujah" was featured as that month's "Greatest Song Ever" (a monthly feature).

Chart Positions

Artist Year Peak
UK Finland Sweden Ireland France Norway USA
Billboard Hot 100 Bubbling Under Pop 100 Hot Digital Songs
Lind, Nilsen, Fuentes and Holm 2007 – – – – – 1 – – – –
Jeff Buckley 2008 2 [23] 9 [24] 3 [25] 8 2 [26] 7 – – – 1 [27]
Leonard Cohen 2008 36 [23] – – – – – – – – –
Kate Voegele 2008 53 [28] – – – – – 68 [29] – 43 [30] 28 [31]
Alexandra Burke 2008 1 [23] – – 1 [32] – – – – – –
Jason Castro 2008 – – – – – – – 13 [33] 94 [34] –

References

  1. ^ The Leonard Cohen Files: A Thousand Covers Deep
  2. ^ a b Hallelujah!, Bryan Appleyard, The Times, January 9, 2005
  3. ^ a b c d Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah!, Daily Telegraph, Neil McCormick, June 14, 2008 Cite error: The named reference "telegraph" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen - guitar chords, guitar tabs and lyrics - chordie
  5. ^ Hallelujah: Jeff Buckley: Rolling Stone, December 9, 2004
  6. ^ Shrek (2001) - Soundtracks
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ Amazon.com - "So you'd like to know more about Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah""
  9. ^ Alan Connor. "Just whose hallelujah is it anyway?". BBC News Magazine. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
  10. ^ Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen fans unite on Facebook to keep reality show version of 'Hallelujah' off British chart
  11. ^ Hallelujah! You Buck the trend
  12. ^ The fight for a Hallelujah Christmas victory, The Times, December 18, 2008
  13. ^ a b Hallelujah hits number one and two slots in Christmas charts, The Times, December 22, 2008
  14. ^ Mark Lawson: Warring Hallelujahs, The Guardian, Friday 19th December 2008
  15. ^ Singh, Anita (2008-12-15). "X Factor winner Alexandra Burke sets new chart record with Hallelujah". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
  16. ^ "Duffy and Burke top 2008 charts". BBC. Retrieved 29-12-2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  17. ^ "Alexandra Burke's 'Hallelujah' joins 'million-selling' singles list". NME. 09-01-2009. Retrieved 10-01-2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ The Fourth, The Fifth, The Minor Fall, BBC, Saturday 1 November {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ Johnston, Chris (February 23, 2009). "National tribute to Victoria's bushfire victims". Adelaide Independent Weekly. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  20. ^ The Fourth, The Fifth, The Minor Fall, BBC, Saturday 1 November {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ Wilde, Jon (2008-03-12). "Which Hallelujah is the highest?". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-12-16. Leonard Cohen's mournful classic has been covered by everyone from Bon Jovi to American Idol's Jason Castro. But whose version is the best?
  22. ^ "Hallelujah set for chart trinity". BBC News. BBC. December 16, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-21.
  23. ^ a b c "Alexandra Burke, Jeff Buckley storm Christmas charts with 'Hallelujah'". NME.
  24. ^ "Finland Chart Listing, Nov 08 2008". Billboard.
  25. ^ "Sweden Chart Listing, Jan 19 2008". Billboard.
  26. ^ "France Chart Listing, Sept 6 2008". Billboard.
  27. ^ "Hot Digital Songs, Apr 05 2008". Billboard.
  28. ^ "UK official charts, Oct 12 2008". 88 FM Radio 1.
  29. ^ "Billboard Hot 100, May 31 2008". Billboard.
  30. ^ "Pop 100 Singles, May 31 2008". Billboard.
  31. ^ "Hot Digital Songs, May 31 2008". Billboard.
  32. ^ "Irish Chart Listing, Dec 27 2008". Billboard.
  33. ^ "Hot 100 Singles, Jun 07 2008". Billboard.
  34. ^ "Pop 100 Singles, Jun 07 2008". Billboard.
Preceded by Norwegian VG-lista number-one single (Performed by Lind, Nilsen, Fuentes and Holm)
10 January 2007 – 17 January 2007 		Succeeded by
"Smack That" by Akon featuring Eminem
Preceded by ' Billboards Hot Digital Songs number one single (Jeff Buckley version)
March 22 2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Top selling single of the year (UK)
(Alexandra Burke version)
2008 		Succeeded by
incumbent
Preceded by
"Run" by Leona Lewis
 UK Singles Chart number-one single (Alexandra Burke version)
21 December 2008 - 11 January 2009 		Succeeded by
Irish Singles Chart number-one single
(Alexandra Burke version)
19 December 2008 - 9 January 2009
Preceded by The X Factor winner's single (Alexandra Burke version)
2008 		Succeeded by
incumbent
United Kingdom Christmas number-one single (Alexandra Burke version)
2008
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