# Hallelujah - which is best

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-which-is-best/160867>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 12, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-which-is-best/160867 "2003-03-12T17:00:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-which-is-best/160867/61 "2003-03-15T00:41:50Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ogre \*  
> \*\*It seriously sounds to me like Rufus is just sawing his way through it. \*\*

I agree as well. I hear that song as a “look how good I can sing” exhibition sparse on the emotion.

And comparing the two arrangements reveals a huge difference too. Buckley’s intro, playing the melody, sliding into the syncopated chords is inventive and well done, and the extended bridge he almost gets lost in before the last verse is intruiging.

On the other hand Wainright’s piano arrangement is pedestrian. It may as well have been played once and looped.

Wainright has an amazing voice, the timber doesn’t seem human, but that doesn’t mean he always sings with emotion.

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**Author:** ![Einmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Einmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einmon)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-which-is-best/160867/62 "2003-03-15T01:37:27Z")

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I love the John Cale version, simply because it was the first version that I heard (and that over and over again).

That aside, I have to agree with **jarbabyj** that the song makes me cry every time. When it was used for one episode of **Scrubs** it made me lose complete control over my tear ducts for the rest of the day…

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**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-which-is-best/160867/63 "2003-03-15T01:57:36Z")

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**John Cale**. Definitely.

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**Author:** ![bibliophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bibliophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophile)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-which-is-best/160867/64 "2003-03-15T18:54:55Z")

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Buckley, now, always and until the end of time. Others have already said how I feel about this song, but I must add that everytime I hear it, it breaks my heart all over again.

I like Rufus a lot, but his version is just too nasal for my liking.

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