Cale’s obviously. But there’s an instrumental (save for the chorus) version used at the climax of the gorgeous Canadian film “When Night Is Falling” that I highly recommend.
The dying of a very sex-oriented relationship. The most explicit lyrics being “I remember when I moved in you/And the holy dove was moving, too/And every breath we drew was Halleluia” and it doesn’t get more blunt than that.
Cohen songs? Wim Wenders named one of his films “Land of Plenty” and played said song over the end. Nobody saw the film (despite it starring Michelle Williams) but I think it’s quite beautiful.
Can’t say I’ve heard any, maybe I’ll look later.
Once again, too many to pick. I’ve always wanted to karaoke “The Future.” I’d add “Diamonds in the Mine,” “Song of Bernadette,” and “Death of a Ladies’ Man” which comes from a notoriously ill-conceived album (the one produced by Phil WTF Spector) but the lyrics are quite epic.
My tastes are pretty small-c catholic. Everything from jazz to shiny accessible pop to clattery noise (as I’ve often said, a lot of my CD collection sounds like someone pushed the china cabinet down the stairs). I’ve seen the Beach Boys in concert, but I’ve also seen Laibach. I eschew Wal-Mart country music, and while I love classic hip-hop (80s-90s), most of what I hear these days sails right past my understanding.
The absolute best cover of Hallelujah is one a friend of mine did years ago. I had stopped by to visit. We were sitting around smoking in his studio (he’s a musician and producer) and he started playing the song. It was amazing. When he finished I had tears in my eyes.
He’s never done the song in public because it isn’t “his type of song”. I felt so very honored he shared it with me.
I enjoyed Kate McKinnon on (I’m pretty sure) the first ep of SNL after the 2016 election. Not the best vocals or anything, just an emotional moment.
In general I think it’s a very pretty song that I can almost always enjoy, except when the singer over pronounces the lines that are supposed to rhyme with “hallelujah”
“…but you don’t really care for music do you”.
Also, I think it’s pretty dark, cynical and sexual and %100 inappropriate for church.
When I decided to look up interpretations to see what @Chronos was talking about, I found that some people do seem to interpret the song as religious, with the speaker talking to God.
This usually is the version that doesn’t have the part about taking the Lord’s name in vain or saying he doesn’t know the Lord. Having two different version is a bit confusing.
There are plenty more than two versions, if only because he claims to have written something like 150 verses and pared it down for the record. His 1994 live album uses different verses than the studio take. And I gather that artists covering it choose their four or so favorites for their take on it. Sometimes lyrics within an established verse can change as well. I’ve heard both “All I’ve ever learned from love/Is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you” as well as “…how to live with someone who outgrew you.”
Looking at the full verse, I always took that as God saying that humanity doesn’t really open their hearts to him anymore.
Well, there was a time when you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show that to me, do you?
But remember, when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath, we drew was Hallelujah
I do wonder how many people hear “words words words words HAAAAAAAAAAAAALLELUUUUUUJAAAAAHH” and decide that it must be a deeply religious song…sort of in the same vein as people who think that Born in the USA is a rah-rah patriotic song because of its chorus.
It’s probably a different song, same tune, but a popular Spanish version is, unsurprisingly, much more religious.
“Hallelujah (Aleluya)”
[Sebastièn:]
Un soldado a casa hoy regreso
y un niño enfermo se curó
y hoy no hay trabajo en el bosque
que la lluvia
el desamparado se salvo
por causa de una buena acción
y hoy nadie lo repudia
Hallelujah
[Urs:]
Por que el amor no hace al amor
y no gorbierne la cruzion si no
lo bueno y lo mejor del alma pura
por que Dios nos proteja de un mal final
por que un dia podamos escarmentar
por que acaban con tanta furia
Hallelujah
I have listened to almost every version on this thread and I have to agree. I watched these folks win “The Sing-Off” and thought they were pretty good but a close match to the competition, but since then their brilliance in composition and artistry have continued to awe me and I realized that they are staggeringly brilliant. I was sad when Avi left, his depth (heh) added dimensions to their music that I feel have lacked a little since, but they are still amazing.
Not a vote for any particular version, but as much as I love these lyrics, there’s a major problem I have with the second verse. Going from, “Your faith was strong but you needed proof, you saw her bathing on the roof, her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya” (David & Bathsheba); to, “ She tied you to a kitchen chair, She broke your throne, and she cut your hair, And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah” (Samson & Delilah) makes David appear as the victim. David is the sinful rapist/murderer in this story. He orders Bathsheeba brought to his quarters, and then orders her husband killed in battle to hide her pregnancy. Hiding his actions behind the Samson betrayal at Delilah’s hands (and Samson being no great role model either) just puts me off. Still an incredible song though.
I liked this version, except unfortunately the harmony around 2:30 onwards was out of tune. A common pitfall of live performance - my guess is the singers couldn’t hear each that well. It got better towards the end.
My favourite (having listened to most of the options) is the one posted by @Lancia - just the right combination for me of perfectly in tune and passionate, without being overproduced.
I’ve got about 10 different versions of Hallelujah kicking around my music library, but the Cale cover is my favorite, which I first encountered on the soundtrack to the film Basquiat (which also included Tom Waits’ Tom Traubert’s Blues - talk about an incredible soundtrack!)
I’m never been a fan of the Buckley version, though I know many many people are. It’s too insubstantial for me and kind of peters out at the end.
Anyway, I put up my favorite cover a while back (Cale), but was going through one of my playlists, and another awesome cover came through that I had nearly forgotten about (I have 4-5 covers in my rotation plus the original, what can I say?)
This is Violet Orlandi, whom I enjoy for their Heavy Metal / Gothic inspired covers of a number of pop and video game songs, and think is great fun if you like such things.
