EDMONTON - Ecstatic. Swoopingness. Simple. Religious. Sensual. Perfect.
Ask musicians to describe Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and those are a few of their answers.
The song, a reverent ode to music, religion and love, is one of the most covered tunes over the last two decades — recorded by everyone from the late singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley to popera diva Rufus Wainwright to Scottish spinster Susan Boyle to Alberta-born crooner k.d. lang. People sing it to celebrate sports, mourn the passing of a loved one, mark the heartache of an animated green ogre, compete in a reality TV show, or simply post on the Internet.
Lang initially recorded a cover for her 2004 album, Hymns of the 49th Parallel, then performed a show-stealing rendition at the opening ceremonies of last year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The latter, available on iTunes, is nominated for single of the year at this Sunday’s Juno Awards.
“It seems to be striking a chord in the psyche of people these days,” says lang.
“I think the lyrics are written in such a skilful way that people really can, I guess, gravitate to their own experiences in a way that makes it really personal to them. And to me it’s very, very — it’s definitely a (song about) human desire and a very sensual and sexual song.
“But my mom’s friends, who are, like, 80 years old, they love it just because of the refrain and they don’t really listen to the ... body of the lyrics. But that’s beautiful, I think.”
For Cohen, Hallelujah was more of a miserable experience. He reportedly wrote and rewrote as many as 80 verses, referencing the mystery and majesty of music (“I heard there was a secret chord/That David played and it pleased the Lord”), biblical love affairs (“You saw her bathing on the roof”) and human fallibility (“I did my best/It wasn’t much”).
“I filled two notebooks and I remember being in the Royalton Hotel (in New York), on the carpet in my underwear, banging my head on the floor and saying, ‘I can’t finish this song,’ ” Cohen has said.
He finally recorded a four-verse version for his 1984 album, Various Positions, but the song didn’t take off until Velvet Underground’s John Cale covered it in 1991, taking his pick of Cohen’s 80 verses. Many musicians cite Jeff Buckley’s intimate 1994 cover as the ultimate Hallelujah, but since then, an estimated 200 artists have performed various versions of the song — including Justin Timberlake, The X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, Imogen Heap, Regina Spektor, Il Divo, Bono and even Bob Dylan. (Type in “Hallelujah” and “cover” in YouTube’s search engine and you’ll get 19,100 hits.)
Two years ago, Cohen pondered the idea of a temporary ban. “I was just reading a review of a movie called Watchmen that uses it and the reviewer said — ‘Can we please have a moratorium on Hallelujah in movies and TV shows?” he said during a CBC interview. “And I kind of feel the same way ... I think it’s a good song, but I think too many people sing it.”
Edmonton singer-songwriter Colleen Brown used to perform Hallelujah, but in keeping with Cohen’s wishes, she now refuses. “Everybody loves the song, but I don’t want to keep doing it to death,” she says. “To me, it is a precious thing.”
Her views, while shared by a growing number of fans and musicians, are still in the minority. (A Facebook group, Stop Covering Hallelujah, only has 30 members.) When we asked for volunteers to perform the song for a Journal video, we had no shortage to choose from — including Jesse Peters, a soul singer and one of the duelling pianists at Red Piano in West Edmonton Mall. Watch the clip on edmontonjournal.com/videos.
“I think I’ve sung it, played it, heard it a gazillion times, and I never get tired of it,” he says. “(Rufus Wainwright’s version) was even in Shrek, for crying out loud. It makes an animated film poignant. Everybody knows that song — your hip-hop kids, your grunge-rockers, your folkies — it’s strangely universal.”
Artists from Edmonton and across Canada also chimed in with their thoughts about Hallelujah — what makes it so special, their favourite cover, and what the song meansto them:
“To define why it’s great is like trying to make water stop moving. I think it just moves so many people. It has an incredible melody and incredible lyrics. I’d have to listen to it again to really dissect it, which I don’t tend to with music — I tend to go with the feel in my gut, what moves me. I want to close my eyes and just lift my head to the heavens and take it in. K.d. singing it is like honey.
“I’ve sung it a couple of times with the Canadian Tenors. We’ve done a couple of charity gigs and they’ve dragged me up onstage. Their version is beautiful as well.
“I love Rufus’s version, but then I love everything Rufus does. He’s so yummy. K.d.’s version is pretty glorious. It’s just very simple — there’s not a lot of bells and whistles. It’s just her voice, which is all it needs.”
— Sarah McLachlan
“It’s got almost a hymn-like quality to it, the chord progression sounds almost classical, and I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a relationship treated with that level of religious imagery and sensibility and I think it lends a weight to it. There’s one verse that takes the David and Bathsheba story and Samson and Delilah, but it’s very human.
“For so many of us, if you try to write a song about a busted relationship, you either end up treading clichés or it ends up being so obscure and personal, nobody but you will get it. With Hallelujah, it’s just so poignant. You understand the gravity of when a relationship is broken.”
— Jesse Peters, a.k.a. Paramedic, singer-songwriterand performer at Red Piano
“I think the refrain is infectious, so it has aspects of that gospel hymn to it, but it’s more appealing to the secular. It’s a haunting song, but at the same time, it makes you feel good. I think it tows that line perfectly. Rufus does a cover of it, I really like that one. Still, Leonard Cohen’s version is the first one I heard, so I have a soft spot for it.”
— Joe Vickers, singer/guitaristfor Audio/Rocketry
“When I watch k.d. sing Hallelujah, she pours herself into the music. She wears her heart on the front of her clothes. It’s beautiful.
“Even though the words are related to religion, I don’t see that. When I first heard it, I didn’t think Bible, I found more pain in it — people’s pain when they sing it, of past experiences with losing someone or breaking up with someone.
“My grandpa, before he died, would always want me to sing it for him. That was his favourite song. I sang it one last time for him at his funeral, two years ago, and it was pretty emotional. So when I listen to it, I think of all of the memories of my grandpa.”
— Bryan Finlay, winner of The Bounce 91.7 FM’sShowdown contest
“I think it’s a phenomenal song. I think it encapsulates a lot of big human feelings. It’s not a song I listen to every day because it’s so heavy. He takes intense religious experiences and combines it with something that’s more grounded or sensual. That juxtaposition is what makes it so powerful because throughout human history, the religious experience has been this big, overshadowing, powerful thing that has inspired most of the art that humans have ever made. In a more modern concept, Hallelujah captures the best religious experience you can get in a pop song.
“I got into Leonard Cohen after hearing the Jeff Buckley version. I like how it peaks and swells. Even though it’s just guitar and voice, it’s almost orchestral. It has a big swoopingness. (Buckley’s) voice is phenomenal, he emotes a lot more than Leonard Cohen, but in a different way. I first heard it when I was 16 and I thought it was perfect.”
— Paul Saulnier, vocalistand guitarist of P.S. I Love You
“Everybody knows the words to that song. We actually did a show, a little while ago, where everything got a little drunken and sloppy, and we ended it with a cover of that song with just guitar. I passed around the microphone and everyone was going their favourite verse, swaying back and forth. It was really great.
“I don’t know how to put into the words why the song is so special. It’s the lyrics for me. My favourite lyrics are the ones that no one really knows — the last two verses that always seem to be omitted. They’re the more bittersweet lyrics, he’s questioning his faith and maybe it doesn’t make it as marketable.”
— James Renton, singerof Fire Next Time
“It has this great balance of sacred and secular love song. It’s a song that people can relate to, whether they believe in the biblical figures that it’s talking about, it’s just a good love story. It hits you in a place that is more religious without being sickly, preachy religious.
“Also, musically, the way it was written makes it timeless — it just goes up and down, up and down, up and down, and it’s got a limited range. You don’t need to be a good singer to sing it. The phrases make sense with the music, there should be time to breathe, but when you’re singing the verses, you sometimes feel like out of breath. So it’s got that intensity built into the music.”
— Rebecca Anderson, co-vocalist of F&M
“In this world, no matter what your religious beliefs are, everybody is looking up — whether it be to God, or for answers — because sometimes looking up is a lot prettier than looking around. A song like that is like a general gospel, it’s so irreverent. It makes you put your hands together.
“It makes me feel like if I close my eyes, I’m in a chapel and I’m not a religious person. I maybe go to a chapel once a year, around Christmas. There’s something about it that makes me feel a little bit closer to an answer.”
— Jonas Tomalty, frontmanof Jonas & the Massive Attraction
“I don’t approach it religiously, I think it’s just very soothing and calming — in the middle of the hustle and bustle and the stress in the world. When that track comes on, you take a nice relaxing sigh and pause for a little while.”
— Corey Diabo, guitarist withJonas & the Massive Attraction
“I like that it’s about imperfection and the fact you have to be broken to feel the Hallelujah. It’s not my favourite Leonard Cohen song, but k.d.’s version made me listen to it again. She gives me shivers — even over YouTube. I don’t know if it’s because she changed the key or her voice is so resonant. Jeff Buckley’s version is a lot more delicate. The first time I heard his, it really affected me but it has lost some of its lustre. To me, it’s kind of a love song. To be in a relationship, you have to be tied to the chair, you’ve got to get your hair cut, and your ego is totally left at your door, so for me, it’s totally about love. I guess some people call that religion.”
— Robyn Bright, singer/guitarist of Cockatoo
“I don’t know if it’s his take on religion or if he liked the word, but I like it. It has the power of a great song. When you first hear it, it overwhelms you. I love that feeling.
“I think it’s the melody, it envelops you and all of a sudden, you’re in the presence of something otherworldly, not human. Pure creativity, I guess.”
— Layne L’Heureux, singer-songwriter and frontmanof Diehatzu Hijets
“I like k.d.’s version, but I think my favourite is the Jeff Buckley version. It’s the first time I heard the song, even though I recognized it as a Leonard Cohen song. The way Jeff sings it is powerful and perfect. That’s the hard thing with cover songs — sometimes they’ve been done the perfect way and unless you can make them new again, I don’t see the point in it.
“Musically, it lifts you up and I think that’s what we’re all looking for with music — to have that ecstatic moment, even if it is something that’s profoundly sad. That song delivers the ecstatic moment. It’s amazing he was able to do it in that one song.”
— Christine Fellows,singer-songwriter
“Jeff Buckley had a way of getting into a song — it’s like he reaches inside of you and twists your insides. There’s something totally guttural and authentic about the way he performs it and his voice just soars. It feels like a religious experience or maybe a spiritual experience because when I think of religion, I immediately think of sitting at the back of a church and looking at my nails, wondering when it’s going to be finally over.
“I think it literally moves something inside — that kind of power, that kind of magic is something that every musician is trying to do in pretty much any song they do.”
— Colleen Brown, singer-songwriter and memberof the Secretaries
“It’s like any other classic song, it’s really catchy and it’s got amazing lyrics with lots of imagery and a chorus that’s anthemic.
“I definitely like Leonard Cohen’s version the best, but I think Jeff Buckley’s version is the best cover. Even Rufus’s version — I think that might have been the first time I heard it, on a Shrek soundtrack, but Jeff Buckley’s version floored me. Oddly enough, Leonard Cohen’s was last in line.
“That song in its covered form has been a hit more than once, so I think it creates an illusion that it’s the world’s most covered song. But I think if you go out and watch cover bands on Friday nights, there are other culprits. Have I ever tried to sing it? No, no I haven’t.”
— Ryan Guldemond, frontmanof Mother Mother
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/Singing+praises+Hallelujah/4506582/story.html#ixzz1J3upJVLe
Juniorette Sings Cohen
Juniorette is a precocious seven years old. Here's her rendition of Leonard Cohen's 1984 song "Hallelujah", with the Swedish lyrics by Py Bäckman. The performance is influenced to a certain degree by another young Swedish singer's version, Molly Sandén's on her 2009 album Samma himmel.
While Cohen's beautiful lyrics deal mainly with broken love affairs through biblical allusions (compare the Pixies' "Dead" and "Gouge Away"!), Bäckman's lyrics are a bit too churchy for my taste. "[The song] has something that takes hold of you / And leads you from night to day / And suddenly you want to sing 'Hallelujah'".
Did you know, Dear Reader, that "Hallelujah" is a formulaic Hebrew expression meaning "praise / sing praises to JHWH"?
Juniorette is not churchy. On Saturday I drove her and a friend home from a birthday party for a classmate whose dad is a Swedish Church minister and a really nice guy. (Junior has a steady babysitting gig there.) Juniorette's friend commented that though Nora's dad isn't the parish shepherd proper, he's usually the one officiating at church. "Does your family believe in God!?", asked my daughter incredulously. "Yeah, but we don't go to church often", said her friend. "I've been, like, maybe five times?".
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2011/03/juniorette_sings_cohen.phpRelated searches:
hallelujah, jeff buckley
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