Favorite version of Hallelujah

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by MikaelaArsenault, Nov 13, 2016.

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  1. hodgo

    hodgo Tea Making Gort (Yorkshire Branch) Staff

    Location:
    East Yorkshire
    Moderator Note:

    Members are reminded to keep politics out of this or any other thread!
     
  2. lschwart

    lschwart Senior Member

    Location:
    Richmond, VA
    I voted for Cale's version, which as several of you have noted is the version that gave birth to the many post 1991 covers of the song. It's worth noting that Cohen himself has performed 3 different version of the song, and all three differ in important ways from the versions rooted in Cale's selection of verses. We don't really know how many verses Cohen really sent Cale, and it's probably not the case that he sent him 80 (or even 20, although who knows). What we do know is that Cale selected the first two of the four verses of the original, Various Positions version and the first three of the version Cohen began performing on his 1988 tour (the version captured on Cohen Live--which it's worth noting still concludes with the original 4th verse of the VP version--"I tried my best..."). He has said in interviews that he chose the "cheeky bits," and that's in fact the case. When he started touring again in 2008, the song in the Cale version had become a standard of sorts, and Cohen began performing variations on a compromise version that took Cale's idea of uniting the beginnings of the two earlier Cohen versions, but he has almost always ended his versions with his original final verse. He sometimes also adds back his original 3rd verse "You say I took the name in vain...," and sometimes one or another of the 3 1988 verses are dropped. Cohen's later live versions always, I believe, begin with the original first two verses, which are the only ones that almost everyone includes. It's also worth noting that Dylan's cover is the earliest, and it's a cover of the original VP version.

    I think it matters that Cohen always ended with that original 4th verse. I get why Cale decided he couldn't sing it with the kind of conviction it requires (and why so may others have followed him), but it's the heart of the matter for the song as Cohen originally and stubbornly continued to conceive of it.

    L.
     
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  3. Rocketdog

    Rocketdog Senior Member

    Location:
    ME, USA
    Without a doubt, I think that Jeff Buckley's is the most beautiful take on the song. Yes, I realize that his version is based on John Cale's take on the song, but in my book nobody, not even Leonard Cohen, himself, has done a finer rendition of the song. You are all welcome to your own opinions, of course.
     
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  4. TeddyB

    TeddyB Senior Member

    Location:
    Hollywoodland
    John Cale. He reinvented the song. All other versions since can be traced to his regal take. Jeff Buckley's, as they say in Hollywood, is a joke on a joke (not to say it's lame or humorous but to say that it just guilds the lily).
     
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  5. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    Honorable mention because of the circumstances under which it was parodied.

     
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  6. Jerryb

    Jerryb Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Leonard's version. I've never heard another version and I'm not sure I want to.
     
  7. While I probably prefer Cohen's original studio take, I greatly enjoy the alternative verses sung in Cale's version.

    I would have loved to hear a young Mariah Carey tackle this song when she had her full vocal range.
     
  8. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    I don't think that is quite fair to say about Jeff's version. It is quite beautiful. I have always believed one can appreciate one thing without denigrating another.
     
  9. TeddyB

    TeddyB Senior Member

    Location:
    Hollywoodland
    The comment wasn't really meant to denigrate it, just to differenciate it from Cale's.

    Late edit on precious comment: "gilds the lily."
     
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  10. antonkk

    antonkk Senior Member

    Location:
    moscow
    Exactly. I'd say a a bridge between Mk1, Mk2 and Jesus Christ Superstar. In fact it sounds like a great lost JCS track.
     
  11. mfp

    mfp Senior Member

    Location:
    Paris, France
    John Cale all the way.
     
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  12. APH

    APH Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cambridge, England
    If Aretha Franklin could have somehow covered it with the same kind of qualities she brought to her other cover versions in her classic Atlantic run...that would have been worth hearing...
    A Mariah Carey version would not add much that was different to the Buckley and Burke versions.
    I have never heard a cover version of Suzanne I didnt like. The opposite is true of Hallelujah.
     
  13. Miriam

    Miriam Forum Resident

    Location:
    -
    I think everyone (from casual listeners to some artists) simply jealous because Jeff's version is so beautiful and untouchable. Nobody (after him) can repeat that and they put it down to make it seem bad.
     
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  14. johnnyyen

    johnnyyen Senior Member

    Location:
    Scotland
    I went with Jeff Buckley, but I like all those listed.
     
  15. CarloM

    CarloM Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Hopefully you were able to score the RSD vinyl with the bonus 7" of this song!
     
  16. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Or, some people just don't like his voice, simple as that.
     
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  17. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
  18. Deek57

    Deek57 Forum Resident

    John Cale, he popularised Hallelujah, without his version doubtful there wouldn't be the Jeff Buckley version. So therefore none of the countless X Factor versions.
     
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  19. OnTheRoad

    OnTheRoad Not of this world

    Couldn't help but think of this one....



    Then I realized there's one letter difference. o_O
     
  20. theshape

    theshape Forum Resident

    Location:
    Saint Joseph, MO
    Unfortunately... Not yet. :(
     
  21. Malinky

    Malinky Almost a Gentleman.

    Location:
    U.K.
    I am sorry about his but `Hallelujah` is an AWFUL song...a terrible dirge that just drones on forever, and yes I do like some Leonard Cohen songs. I am truly sick of hearing it endlessly played on radio and TV shows, the staple of every NO TALENT `Variety` show, `X` factor (and similar), and amateur choir, and drunken Karaoke singer. One of the songs, along with `D.I.V.O.R.C.E` and `Up Up And Away`, that I almost hurt myself trying to get to the radio to turn it OFF!
     
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  22. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Really nice to see one of my old threads getting some love again. Thank you very much for appreciating me (and my threads).
     
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  23. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    Cale's is "it" as far as I'm concerned, but I only heard Lang's live rendition last year, and whoo! That's some stellar tributein' there, boy!

    Also appreciate Tina Dickow's duet with Steffen Brandt, since she's a favorite. I wonder if we'll ever get another recording from Cohen's acolyte, Jennifer Warnes; and I wonder if she feels she has something to add to the list of stellar performances.
     
  24. lightbulb

    lightbulb Not the Brightest of the Bunch

    Location:
    Smogville CA USA
    Interesting timing;
    Last week this song was on the local news.
    Apparently, a student was singing the song into a well at an Italian tourist site, and it became a viral video.

    (Just another trivial tidbit that has latched onto my brain like a mind mollusk... ;) :p :cry: )
     
  25. I'm convinced that the definitive version of "Hallelujah" doesn't exist as a recording or a performance. It exists in each listener's head, using the verses he or she would choose and in his or her own voice (or the voice they imagine they would have, if they could sing).
     
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