Recently there have been a few articles about the powerful lyrics of Rufus Wainwright’s song “Hallelujah”. In itself this is no big blunder, deep and thoughtful ideas have been shared about a now popular song. This should be imaginably easy to do about a song with such intimately personal lyrics. Perhaps this is the reason Wainwright covered it. However amazing and talented he is, he can not be credited with this masterful piece of melody. He was not the first and definitely will not be the last to cover this haunting song. My first encounter with “Hallelujah” was on Jeff Buckley’sGrace. It followed me for days.
Hallelujah” is the original work of Leonard Cohen. If you had bothered to open the CD booklet you too would have come to this realization. Cohen is, by no small measure, a brilliant lyricist – quite evident by the aforementioned song. Which seems to be somewhat of a tragedy “The problem for the song today, however, is that it is so popular it seems to pop up everywhere, causing some musical fans who might otherwise appreciate it for the masterpiece it is to hate it for its omnipresence.” (http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/P7E2QMMXT6TS) I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Making its first appearance on Cohen’s Various Positions, “Hallelujah” is most appreciated for being both deeply spiritual and emotionally complex; making this song quite possibly the only one to gather so much of these two powerful elements into only a few verses. It is told from the view of the Old Testament King, David, about his affair with Bathsheba. Known only to Cohen’s fans, it wasn’t until the nineties that its popularity grew. Although performed by many artists including Buckley and Wainwright, its most important version was established by John Cale. Cale covered the song for his 1991 Cohen Tribute album I’m Your Fan, establishing the song’s definitive shape. Reportedly, in live performance, Cohen would play around with the song, drawing from as many as fifteen verses. After hearing such a performance, Cale requested the lyrics from Cohen and was overwhelmed to receive all of the verses, not just those from the evening’s performance. From this, Cale simplified the song by using only piano accompaniment. For this Cale does deserve credit for producing the version we all know so well.
Just as Cale brought simplicity to the piece, Jeff Buckley brought his own bit of intensity; having incredible vocal dexterity gives his version credit for best performance. And although Wainwright’s cover is used on the Shrek Soundtrack, Cale’s is the one used in the movie. Unfortunately “Hallelujah” might be a casualty of its own brilliance.
