Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah (single) - MP3/WMA/ DRM AAC download from only 49p (59p @ A

roddydogs

Be fair.......i listen to a lot of music, and had never heard ANY versions of H.............neither have most people . at least we now know what it is......and who "Leonard Cohen" is

dogtown_raider

Toto wrote: »

As a musician who has played this tune more times than I've had hot dinners i'm totally sick of it I think this thread has shown the world and his aunt have covered it. All we need now is an x factor cover of car wash and Imagine and we'd have the complete set.:rotfl:

dont forget tainted love.

ljw2701

dogtown_raider wrote: »

but it won't. will it?

itll bring alexandra to the attention of an audience. how many kids do you know who listen to the original just because the song they like has been covered? If they did then rap music would be re-igniting 70's and 80's pop songs.

Don't underestimate people - my own son "discovered" Elvis because of ................... Gareth Gates (!!):o and his version of Suspicious Minds. Now it's Gareth who?

spuds_2

Here's a nice acoustic guitar version by some Norwegian guys:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=T2NEU6Xf7lM&NR=1

JoeyG

I'm another fan of the Jeff Buckley version

Unlike many on here, I thought Cohen's original version was awful but Buckley turned it into a masterpiece... Anyone who doubts his talent should check out one of his many live performances on youtube.

The fact that so many great artists attribute Buckley as a direct influence should be testament enough.

Oh, and its my understanding that the song was inspired by a chapter from the Jewish bible

Sput2001

I think the chances of the X Factor juggernaut being stopped are, at best, minimal. It would be good to see the Jeff Buckley version get wider recognition, though, as it's vastly superior to Alexandra Burke's glorified karaoke version which they've just tried to turn into a generic Simon Cowell winning song:

Emotional ballad? Check!
Gospelly choir? Check!
Low key start building up to a big finish? Check!
Key change towards the end? Check!

At least it's not a song about achievement or ambition thinly disguised as a love song, which I suppose is a bit of a break from the norm.

catkins

To be honest I find it a strange choice for a song for the X Factor winner. Most people I have spoken to have never heard the song before and I would not really regard it as a "popular" tune. I am almost sure that if anyone else made this record it would get nowhere especially if it were made by a totally newcomer who had not won X Factor. I can imagine a lot of people saying "what on earth is that record all about - it's awful".

Also cannot believe that no matter who won the X Factor this would have been the song they sung. It, to me, is a song that suits very few voices. People may sing it but most of them could never do it justice.

dogtown_raider

agreed. its not strictly what youd expect at number one. Its a sad song and you have to wonder if the song pickers even realized that.

But as said above, it's a far cry from the usual 'i did it' song that the winner always seems to get. Maybe they felt slightly shamed by Peter Kay's 'the winners song'

Sput2001

Its a sad song and you have to wonder if the song pickers even realized that.

I think it covers loads of different emotions, from ecstasy and euphoria to broken and dejected bitterness. What it's actually about is the subject of lengthy debate, with the various religious and sexual undertones and so on. I suspect Simon Cowell doesn't have much of an idea, and Alexandra Burke even less. Radio 2 did an hour-long documentary on the song a while ago, which was very good.

At least half the verses are missing from the Alexandra Burke version, too, although very few people actually perform every verse Cohen wrote, including Cohen himself.

dogtown_raider

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7786171.stm

Number 3 midweek.

The same song, three versions in the top 40 of the UK charts. Amazing.