Click on the links below to hear other versions of this song:
Jeff Buckley | Bob
Dylan | k.d. lang
| Sheryl
Crowe | Rufus
Wainwright | U2
| Bon Jovi | John
Cale | Imogen Heap
| JLS | Alexandra
Burke
It's an exquisitely beautiful song that was written by the mournful Canadian
singer Leonard Cohen and later made famous by the mournful American singer
Jeff Buckley. Now Hallelujah is absolutely certain - bar only the apocalypse
- to be No 1 in the charts this Christmas.
Stop, if you can bear to, for just a moment to recall some of the Christmas
pap we've endured over the years; remember Mr Blobby, Benny Hill's milkman
and St Winifred School Choir's homage to Grandma? Surely, you might think as
the trauma recedes, having a great song as the Christmas No 1 of 2008 can
only be a good thing.
Well, yes and no. Because for a great many extremely angry people, Christmas
2008's Hallelujah revival is the apocalypse.
The song itself they really, really love: it's the singer, and all that they
believe she stands for, that they revile. This unfortunate is Alexandra
Burke, an unmournful, 20-year-old Londoner who used to sing at weddings and
barmitzvahs but who last Saturday was voted winner of this year's series of
the hit talent show The X Factor. She is now signed to Simon Cowell's label
Syco, and Hallelujah is her winner's single.
The purists are aghast: The X Factor is corporate Mammon, they rail, a cynical
franchise trampling unsoftly on their beloved Hallelujah. Take John (not his
real name), for instance. Hallelujah is part of the fabric of John's life:
his parents met through their love of Cohen and the Canadian
singer/songwriter's dirgy, haunting voice soundtracked his childhood.
Years later, when John himself got married, he played Jeff Buckley's 1994
cover of Hallelujah at the wedding. When John's wife died, it was played at
the funeral.
Early on Wednesday morning, John cracked. It is “unforgivable”, he posted on
Facebook, for “a shameless, self-promoting tosser like Simon Cowell to even
think of besmirching the legacy of this song!” On MySpace, Facebook,
YouTube, Last.fm, Bebo and beyond, thousands of similarly enraged Cohen and
Buckley aficionados are rising up alongside John to protest. As well as
hurling a lot of gratuitously nasty comments at the high-trousered
impresario and his latest protégée, they are also mounting a fightback. The
rebel HQ is Facebook, where more than 75,000 members have joined various
groups dedicated to blocking Burke's Hallelujah taking the top spot - by
downloading enough copies of Buckley's to beat her to it.
“Do not buy this pop, overproduced and heartless version of perhaps one of the
most poetic songs of the last century. Buy Jeff Buckley's,” exhorts one
group. “We can make this work,” says another: “and make a huge statement
against the barrage of cynical, manufactured pop dirtying up our charts.”
Yet another says: “Even if we can't prevent this travesty we can at the very
least make our revulsion known.” There are plans for a demonstration in
Trafalgar Square tomorrow.
Up to a point, people power is working. Buckley's version came in at number 30
in last week's chart, and when the unofficial midweek results were revealed
on Wednesday night it had stormed into the number 3 spot, just behind Leona
Lewis (last year's winner of The X Factor). HMV's veteran chart analyst
Gennaro Castaldo is convinced that Burke's Hallelujah will be No 1 on Sunday
evening. He says that there are predictions that as many as half a million
copies of the single could be downloaded and sold by then - but also reckons
that Buckley's has more than a fighting chance of coming in second. He
added: “The Jeff Buckley cover version was only 7,000 or so sales behind
Leona Lewis. So in theory, the momentum is with it to get to No 2 by Sunday.
“Although apparently Leona is on the Royal Variety Show this evening, which
might give her sales a boost.” Leona Lewis is, remember, also a Cowell
artist, on Cowell's label. So knocking her down a peg in favour of Jeff
Buckley would give the Hallelujah underground a victory, of sorts.
Whatever the chart says on Sunday, Leonard Cohen will be the biggest
beneficiary of all this. He probably deserves it: his former business
manager allegedly misappropriated Cohen's $10 million retirement fund. And
not only did he agonise for two years, he has said, before finally
completing the song in 1984, he also wrote 80 verses. “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'.”
But finish it he did, stripping the verses down for the version released on
his 1985 album Various Positions. Bob Dylan loved it - and covered it live.
In Cohen's next recorded version, from a concert in 1988, the lyrics were
significantly tweaked, less Christian, more intimate. It was this version
that inspired John Cale to ask Cohen to send him the verses, of which Cohen
sent 15. Cale rejigged them, rearranged the song and made it a regular on
his set list. This arrangement was then covered, gloriously, by Jeff Buckley
on his 1994 album Grace - and when Buckley drowned a few years later his
Hallelujah became, for thousands of his fans, a defining part of his musical
legacy.
Since then, Hallelujah has become a standard. Bon Jovi, kd lang, Sheryl Crow,
Bono, Kathryn Williams, Willie Nelson and Damien Rice have all recorded
notable interpretations, and The X Factor is far from the first time the
song has been used on-screen. It was used in The West Wing and Basquiat, and
covered by Rufus Wainwright (who says of Cohen, “I really believe he's the
greatest living poet on earth”) for the soundtrack to Shrek
(although Cale's version, confusingly, was used in the film). Producers of the
fantastically schlocky teen melodrama The O.C. liked Hallelujah so much that
they used it twice; first Buckley's version and then a new cover, by Imogen
Heap.
“I didn't have any personal relationship with the song, so it was a lot easier
for me to attack it,” she said yesterday. “But I knew what a huge song it
was.” With only two days free to record it, Heap planned at first to decline
The O.C.'s request to record it, but then, while singing in the shower, was
inspired to record an a cappella version, accompanied only by the background
noise of London recorded in her Waterloo flat. Contemplating the possessive
outrage of the Buckley and Cohen fans at The X Factor, Heap, a covered
songwriter herself, says: “You can't chain a song up. It has a life of its
own. Once it's left the studio it does what it likes, and there is nothing
you can do about it.” Which rather dashes the wistful suggestion of one
Facebook Hallelujah rebel: “You know they have buildings that you cannot
touch? Historical ones? They should do the same with songs.”
Yet Hallelujah, which has been covered by more than 100 artists around the
world, had already lived a full, promiscuous life before The X Factor picked
it up anew. A key factor in Hallelujah's capacity to acquire such an
intensely personal meaning, and to stir up so much passion in so many
performers and listeners is its ambiguity: some of its content, not to
mention its one-word chorus (and title) has just enough religiosity to allow
the X Factor producers to add the jing-a-ling of sleigh-bells to Burke's
cover and pitch it at Britain for Christmas. Yet for many Hallelujah is
about lost romantic love, or as Buckley put it, a paeon to “the hallelujah
of an orgasm”. Cohen himself has said of the song: “It's a desire to affirm
my life, not in some formal religious way but with enthusiasm; with
emotion.” And Alexandra Burke's version, however mass-market its origins
stick in the craw of the Facebook rebels, is certainly enthusiastic and
emotional enough to rank alongside any other cover.
What might assault their sensibilities even more is the revelation that Simon
Cowell is just like them: he loves their beloved Buckley version, too. On a
previous series of American Idol (the US equivalent of X Factor), Hallelujah
was covered by a dreadlocked contestant called Jason Castro. From his
judge's seat, Cowell said: “The Jeff Buckley version of that song is one of
my favourite songs of all time.” Castro's performance, and the downloads it
prompted, persuaded Cowell to use the song this year in The X Factor. Cowell
himself is in Barbados now, relaxing. But his fellow judge Louis Walsh
called from Ireland yesterday and revealed that he, too, is a diehard
Hallelujah lover.
“I have ten versions of it on my iPod - I particularly love kd lang's version.
Everybody says Jeff Buckley's is the best version but I prefer Cohen's.
Rufus's is OK, too.” Walsh cheerfully concedes that he can relate to the
Hallelujah purists' outrage, but sticks gamely behind Burke. “She makes the
song different. And the really good thing is that Leonard Cohen is going to
make some money out of it. She's brought it to a whole new audience who
don't know that song. The X Factor audience think it is a new song. It's
going to help Jeff Buckley's album [Sony is releasing a Buckley “best of”
album next month]. Everyone's going to win in the end.” After a brief,
knowledgeable chat about some artists just as venerable and venerated as
Cohen - including Bob Dylan and Van Morrison, Walsh returns to The X Factor.
“I think we should revisit all these great songs and bring them to a new
generation of audience. I really do.” Oh dear. Things could get worse for
the old-school purists. Next year, if he reapplies for the show just like
Burke did (she was a failed contestant in 2005) we could see the odd-looking
schoolboy Eoghan Quigg at No 1, with a cover of Desolation Row. Facebook's
servers would most likely explode.
Covered in glory (or not)
There have been more than a hundred recordings of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.
Ben Machell reviews his Top Ten
Leonard Cohen
Where you might have heard it: 2am in halls of residence circa 1985, and
funerals.
What it's like: Laughing Len's sepulchral, if slightly synthy original.
When to play it: while trying to seduce humourless, black woolly
jumper-wearing German exchange students.
Jeff Buckley
Where you might have heard it: when Mischa Barton's character dies in The O.C.
What it's like: clinically proven to make teenage girls fall in love with a
sensitive, handsome dead man.
When to play it: whenever you need to show you're as sensitive as a handsome
dead man.
Alexandra Burke
Where you might have heard it:
on X Factor; in Argos; at your Nan's house.
What it's like: powerful enough to make Cheryl Cole weep.
When to play it: whenever you want to make Cheryl Cole's mascara run.
kdlang
Where you might have heard it: dark, smoky bars selling cheap vermouth.
What it's like: a swooning reinterpretation (“she tied you to her kitchen
chair/she broke your throne and cut your hair” etc).
When to play it: when you realise that no one understands you, but it's OK -
“you'll always have music”.
Rufus Wainwright
Where you might have heard it: plush cabaret joints selling fancy highballs.
What it's like: you can hear the gritting of teeth as he just about keeps it
to a simple, straight-up, singer'n'piano take.
When to play it: after your second Alka-Seltzer the following morning.
John Cale
Where you might have heard it: the sad bit in Shrek.
What it's like: a stark, trembling rendition with a hint of valley boy
enunciation.
When to play it: over YouTube montages of your dead cat.
Bon Jovi
When you might have heard it: by mistake.
What it's like: has all the gravitas of Slade singing Jerusalem.
Where to play it: New Jersey.
Bono
Where you might have heard it: initially, online, for
a laugh; subsequently, your every waking dream.
What it's like: a trip-hop-tinged reinvention that could soundtrack an advert
for a horrible men's fragrance.
Where to play it: in court, to Bono and a judge and jury.
Imogen Heap
Where you might have heard it: again, in the episode of The O.C. when Marissa
gets it.
What it's like: a breathy, incorporeal a capella cut of woe.
Where to play it: when it's late and no one wants to leave your house.
JLS
Where you might have heard it: the final of X Factor.
What it's like: surprisingly hard to dislike, dry ice, hair gel, fitted
waistcoats and diamond earrings notwithstanding.
Where to play it: at lateral-thinking Christian youth groups.
Visit timesonline.co.uk/music and imogenheap.co.uk to hear these Hallelujahs
and judge them for yourself
Strange no ones mentioned the Leonard Cohen live version.... released a few years after the original. By the way, saw him perform this live in London a few months ago, was absolutely amazing. Far more superior than any other version I've heard.
Lee, South Wales, uk
k d lang's version is - dare I say it? - a religious experience.
Rufus's version superb; Buckley's version too. Imogen Heap's rendition is wonderfully haunting. Burke's is an abomination.
If you 've not heard k d's version, stop what you're doing and go and find it on YouTube. Off you go!
Lou Rossati, Stevenage,
who cares! The Christmas number 1 has long lost its status since trash shows such as X factor have dictated the number 1 spot
Steve Williamson, manchester, England
leona lewis won xfactor two year ago, not last year.
kaliko, london,
Leonard Cohen's version is better than Jeff Buckley's and all the others I've heard. Alexandra Burke's performance rings a little hollow in comparison; but she's definitely talented, and at least this year's Christmas number one will be a great song.
Emily, Cambridge,
I'm a Canadian, and have been an appreciative listener/reader of Mr. Cohen's work for over 30 years.
His is, of course, the definitive version of the song, and I've yet to hear Burke's, but given the greatness of the song, just how badly could she mess up? Either way, Cohen is singing Hallelujah!
K.Snook, Alberta, Canada
I've listened to many versions on You-Tube over the last couple of days, coming to the song fresh, as a fan of classical music. And I think that k d lang's is far and away my favourite - she has a stunning voice, and imbues EVERY word with meaning.
Tony, London, England
jeff buckley's vocal delivery on his version is quite possibly the greatest vocal delivery ever recorded
Richard, Redditch,
The real cynics are those that take their music too seriously. How frustrating life must be for you, that others can enjoy the music that you cannot. It must be like living with a disability.
David Evans, Coleford, Gloucestershire
We like what we like. Alexandra has a good voice and no, Kate from Southampton, she will not be just a "quiz question" this time next year. Remember Leona Lewis?
And the winner is..... Mr. Leonard Cohen!
Stop squabbling, it's pathetic.
Darren Ward, Manchester, UK
I've just downloaded my copy from HMV. Even via the antiseptic medium of MP3, I can hear Jeff's breaths, his fingers on the fretboard. His version has a life of it's own, an emotion that rises up from within while listening.
I may be there at 6pm on Friday...
Sean (Astro), Rugby, UK
these things get up my nose....
the more you debate X Factor the richer you make Mr Cowell;
you'd think LC only wrote one memorable song!
Jeff Buckley's dad Tim was a better singer than him.....catch Dolphins.
Joe of London - on best British singers - Amy of course; Beatles - excuse me??
Dave, Milton Keynes, UK
They should be glad that England finally produced someone - Alexandra Burke- who can make it big outside this bizarre little island. I think she might be the first one other than the Beatles and Amy Winehouse who doesn't have a sniveling powerless voice of a six year old.
JOe, London, UK
More priority news reporting then...
Mark Wood, Twickenham, U.K.
Give me the Happy Mondays 'Hallelujah' any day! Not exactly a cover, but a wicked song nevertheless.
Jez Hartley, Les Houches, France
The older I get I have come to realise that it is the song that is important not the singer. I still get upset when for instance I heard the John Lewis Christmas TV Ad using the Beatles From Me To You. Classic songs do not have the same connection or meaning for younger people any longer.
Alexander , Aberdeen, UK
I hate to break it to you, but Jeff Buckley's version was played on the last few minutes of the first season, not the end of the third. That was just Imogen Heap's version... It would have looked pretty stupid if they played both of them in the same episode!
Jeff Buckley's is my favourite always.
Elizabeth, Shrewsbury,
Like Stuart (Sheffield) I agree that musical snobbery is ridiculous. We all like what we like. Full Stop. It's not something to either be pompous about, or ashamed of! As long as we all have something we enjoy, can relate to, whatever, music enhances the World and brings (some of us!) together..
diane, buxton, england
Yes, a song has a life of its own, everybody can sing it. Something else is to record 12 different versions by singers who might not even like the song, then to sort out at the lottery of the prime tv public vote which version is going to no. 1. Buckley loved this song, that's why he sung it so well
Val, London, UK
The Buckley version is so wonderful but my memories of it are somewhat sad since it was used by VH1 after 9/11 as part of a phono montage of ground zero images that played endlessly the weekend after the attacks. A strange musical oasis in a storm of news chaos.
Caroline, Washington DC, USA
I would just like to point out at this stage, with no prejudice to the opinions in the article, a factual inaccuracy - Leona Lewis was not last year's X Factor winner, she won in 2006. It is perhaps a testament to his instant forgetability that Leon Jackson (the 2007 winner) is not mentioned above.
Mathew, London,
I'm a long-time Cohen fan - thrilled to see him perform Hallelujah live recently - love the Buckley version, and the Cale version.... but I think Burke's version is a very good one and I don't get this hysteria at all. I'm prepared to bet Cohen himself would like her version - and he deserves the $$
Carol, London,
Why must chart music mean the end of all other good music? In fact I think it strengthens the alternatives. I think most chart music is over-manufactured drivel. But so what? I listen to the music I want, and I dabble with the chart music when I want.
Tony, Islington, London, UK
Paul - what is a "real Xmas song"? Mad World? Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? Mr Blobby? I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With a Dalek? Silent Night? (Burke murdered that one on X Factor as well.)
Let the lady have her due now - this time next year she'll only be remembered as a pub quiz answer.
Kate, Southampton, UK
In the current economic downturn the British public got their priorities spot on (demonstrating to oppose Alexandra's possible x-mas number 1).
Torno, London, UK
Don't think the Jeff Buckley version was played when Marissa died was it? I know the Imogen Heap version was but wasn't Buckley's used as more of a general leitmotif for big moments in Ryan and Marissa's relationship in the first series? I'm pretty confident it didn't pop up in the third!
Ray, London, UK
It would be a sublime Christmas if Jeff's Hallelujah was number 1. It is a very human, emotionally charged recording. Perfect for the time of year. Artistry over commerce at Christmas? Yes please.
Andy, Chelmsford, England
this merely underlines how low music has sunk. there has always been rubbish that sells at christmas, but who were this year's artists to emerge that compare with the likes of leonard cohen?
for the record, gareth gates murdering suspicious minds left me more depressed than this year's travesty.
Cameron, London,
I've got a version of this song on my IPOD by neither, I can't remember the artist off the top of my head but I think it is better than both other versions mentioned above...
Adam Webb, MK, UK
Try out a version by Alison Crowe (you can google it and find it on youtube). It's the best song ever written I think, and she does a very creditable job - just her and her piano.
Mike Dales, Sutton, Surrey
You're choosy what music you listen to: me too. You don’t automatically like what’s popular: me neither. So why do you care what’s number 1? The charts aren't a celebration of “proper music”, whatever that is: they're precisely a popularity contest. Buy what you like and ignore the charts. Sorted.
joe, birmingham, uk
I agree with Sue, artists used to actually try to get to the number 1 spot, I remember when lots of artists stood a fighting chance. Now it's just automatically the X Factor. Thing is, it's a popular show with lots of viewers so it won't stop anytime soon, which is a shame.
Lauren , Chichester, UK
The Jeff Buckley version is superior in every way to the x-factor version...but so what. Different generation, different tastes, different culture. Get over yourselves. Musical snobbery is ridiculous.
Stuart, Sheffield, UK
Thats a great article. I can tell you like the Buckley version best!!
Nick, London,
If you don't like it don't buy it. Fascists.
gareth, saffron walden, UK
The protest worked for me - as soon X factor was over, I thought it was time to sell my Jeff Buckley CD. I think it's an overrated, depressing and rather mediocre album. However, I was able to sell it on Amazon for more than I bought it for. I don't care about X Factor, but I must thank them!
Andras, Northington,
This article totally misses the point on what is going on. The Alex version is fine, nothing wrong with it but its not exactly awe-inspiring is it?
People have joined up on Facebook and other sites to basically advertise what they feel is a better version. Nothing to do with musical snobbery
Fahd, London, UK
Leona won 2006 & Leon won 2007.
It has nothing to do with Alex, but everything to do with a legendary song being cheapened by Simon Cowell & the producers who have done a great disservice to the song.
This monopoly of the X-factor automatically being No.1 has to stop.
Sue McLaughlin, London, UK
There are so many things wrong with Burke's version. Like Ryan said, it isn't an interpretation, it's simply an unoriginal, unmeaningful take on the song, indistinguishable to the hoarde of Mariah Carey esque singers out there. The X Factor Xmas monopoly needs to end.
James, Fleet,
I am with "John" and Ryan Bradshaw.
D McGregor, St Mawes, Cornwall
Oh get a grip! Like Imogen Heap (gr8 indie artist) said, a song has a life of it's own after it leaves the studio. Jeff Buckley's version's one a kind but it too was a cover. Alexandra Burke has a fantastic voice (x-factor winner or not) covering a beautiful song. What's the problem?
Paul, London,
I've heard it murdered up and down the country by wannabee Jeff Buckleys in pubs, and thats no better than xfactor. Maybe it'll stop being the number one folk kareoke song, and thats no bad thing.
John, lancaster,
Reminds me of the All Saints cover of "Under the Bridge" originally by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. The song lost all of its meaning.
charles, Cirencester, Great Britain
Lets be honest the cynical x-factor version carries so little of the artistic merit that jeffs does. Its not just about his voice, which is in the genius category, its about his interpretation of the song.
The x-factor song is not an interpreatation or an improvement its just radio friendly.
Ryan Bradshaw, Manchester, UK
I just bought 7 copies from different retailers... the Jeff Buckley version that is.
John, Worthing, United Kingdom
Interesting "unbiased" reporting there from the times, could it be they are supporting the x factor version then?
Rick, Manchester,
Last years winner was actually Leon Jackson, Leona won in 2006!
Mark, Coventry,
no, what really sucks is the cynical way that X-Factor is timed to finish precisely in order to maximise sales in the week that counts for the Xmas no 1. no real Xmas song has a chance anymore and that's what really grates...
paulc, Gloucester,