(From 7/13/2019) “Hallelujah” is a song written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen and originally released on his album Various Positions in 1984. After not much initial success, the song found greater popularity on a recording by John Cale of Velvet Underground fame. If you’re a fan of Andy Warhol or Lou Reed, you’ve probably heard of them-:)
Cale’s version inspired a Jeff Buckley recording, which is my personal favorite rendition and also shown below. Buckley released it on his only studio album, Grace, in 1994. On May 29, 1997, while awaiting the arrival of his band from New York, he drowned during a spontaneous evening swim in the Mississippi River when he was caught in the wake of a passing boat. Chart success came posthumously when the song became number one on Billboard’s Hot Digital Songs in 2008.
“Hallelujah” is considered the “baseline of secular hymns” by many researchers – here is an interesting article that I was not aware of until tonight.
Following its increased popularity after being featured in the 2001 film Shrek, many other arrangements have been performed in recordings and in concert. The song has been used in film and television soundtracks and televised talent contests. “Hallelujah” experienced renewed interest following Cohen’s death in November 2016 and appeared on multiple international singles charts.
The Leonard Cohen recording below was done 25 years after the original and is available on his “Live in London” album.
This in Jeff Buckley’s recording. Cohen may have written it, but I’m pretty sure Jeff knew what the words meant. I think you’ll like this version too…
Reminder… You can click in the lower right of a YouTube video to make it full screen. Also, you can use the Posts menu item to filter news posts to a specific category – e.g. Music Videos – to just show those. Enjoy!
