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Leonard Cohen — Hallelujah
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Chrisparkle
Posted: Mar 16, 2013 - 02:59
 
Spine tingling!

DJ_BellsEye
Posted: Feb 12, 2013 - 17:59
 
 Biscobret wrote:
The real question is why is Leonard Cohen covering a Jeff Buckley song??
 
Um, you know Jeff covered Leonard, right?  But I must agree with the comments below that this version is a snoozer loser, jeez it's a dirge.  Nothing like his original version and Jeff's soaring cover.
Some guy recently wrote a book ABOUT THIS SONG!  Ended with its use during the memorial services for the Sandy Hook tragedy.

How's Vashon?  I lived in Bainbridge Island for 3 years back in the post-grunge days.

slackpacker
(Charleston SC)
Posted: Feb 12, 2013 - 17:55
 
This song is a perfect example of how covers can improve on the original.

Biscobret
(Vashon, WA)
Posted: Nov 10, 2012 - 15:49
 
The real question is why is Leonard Cohen covering a Jeff Buckley song??

Dinges,_the_Dude
(below sea-level, N52°37', E4°88')
Posted: Nov 10, 2012 - 15:45
 
LC is a cool dude... 

mrgus
(Salt Lake City)
Posted: Oct 10, 2012 - 07:16
 
Why are the lyrics totally different from his previous version? Shouldn't it be "Hallelujah II"?

Randomax
(Wimberley, TX)
Posted: Oct 10, 2012 - 07:15
 
okay, here's the deal....I will say it again for everyone with negative things to say....As with Joni and others, it's the POETRY.  Leonard's voice is sometimes hard to listen to (esp. his later, older voice) but it's the WORDS that make the song.  That is why he gets so much airplay on RP.

Now, I will say, if you've never heard his ORIGINAL recording of this song, it deserves a listen.  This live 2009 version is somewhat painful.

Yes, this song's covers are WAY overplayed but the original deserves to be listened to with "new ears" because conviction and emotion is his strong suit.

Tori Amos just did Famous Blue Raincoat and, I'm sorry, but some songs are just never meant to be covered....Such a personal event in Mr. Cohen's life could NEVER be conveyed better than his original, heart-breaking version.

 

t00lur
(happy petergabriel free land)
Posted: Oct 10, 2012 - 07:13
 
for God's sake, I am sick of Hallelujah! {#Eek} 
enough
enough

kaybee
(Lost in the Wilds of Toronto)
Posted: Sep 08, 2012 - 17:38
 
 missyanneb wrote:
Sigh.
I am kind of sick to death of this song.

I hear it everywhere.
 
And here on RP there are ten, count 'em, ten versions!

Megavolt
Posted: Sep 08, 2012 - 17:36
 
Preach it, brother!

Megavolt
Posted: Sep 08, 2012 - 17:35
 
This song gets waaayyy too much air time. There are other Leonard Cohen songs that deserve more play.

jocelynsart
Posted: Sep 08, 2012 - 17:34
 
this is so lounge

ScottN
(Condo in Gaza full time now. Thank TFSM I saw the divot where the landmine was placed.)
Posted: Sep 08, 2012 - 17:34
 
This version is inferior to the version on the album to which it is credited.  On the "real" live version, Cohen reclaimed his song quite successfully. 

BikeCoachDave
(Columbia, Ky.)
Posted: Aug 08, 2012 - 06:23
 
How Leonard Cohen has built such a following, and how he gets so much airplay on R.P. escapes me.

jpfueler
(Alvarado, Texas, (A Bit FurtherSouth o' Ft Worth))
Posted: Jul 07, 2012 - 20:09
 
I've known a long time Leonard had done this, and this is actually the first time I ever heard it.
Iprefer Jeff or K.D. on this one

Bobert_ParkCity
(Actually, No longer in Park City Utah)
Posted: Jul 07, 2012 - 20:04
 
 FlatCat wrote:
Leonard Cohen is whom the word lugubrious was invented for.
 
I'll always associate lugubrious with Joseph Conrad, since I first encountered the word reading Heart of Darkness.



dedawson
(You never know where you're going til you get there)
Posted: Jul 07, 2012 - 20:01
 
Wow, talk about a bad version. Make it stop, please. {#Yawn}

Bobert_ParkCity
(Actually, No longer in Park City Utah)
Posted: Jul 07, 2012 - 20:01
 
It's true, Jeff Buckley slays this, and Leonard snoozes it.

wlpendley
(New Mexico)
Posted: Jul 07, 2012 - 19:59
 
I have to agree, this is a very mediocre, sleepy version of a *fabulous* song by a *genius* artist.  I'd far rather hear the Rufus Wainwright or Jeff Buckley versions than this.  Please take it out of rotation.  Leonard Cohen is too good for this...

Sjaaks
(Horst, Netherlands)
Posted: Jun 06, 2012 - 01:41
 
{#Sleep}
Even asleep, i'm wondering if i'll wake up from this anytime soon...
Really horrible!   

laozilover
(Left of Chicago and up)
Posted: May 05, 2012 - 07:40
 
 FlatCat wrote:
Leonard Cohen is whom the word lugubrious was invented for.
 


FlatCat
(Chicago)
Posted: Apr 03, 2012 - 14:51
 
Leonard Cohen is whom the word lugubrious was invented for.

dw
(PHill, CA)
Posted: Apr 03, 2012 - 14:47
 
 ginger wrote:
Wow, one of my favorite songs done in a rendition that I can only rate "Sucko-Barfo". Please make it stop...or at least play the Jeff Buckley version as a follow-up to make up for this. {#Puke}

 
Exactly.  This version is a snoozer.{#Sleep} And I'm SO glad are lovely emoticons reappeared!{#Jump}

iTuner
Posted: Mar 02, 2012 - 22:24
 

Please end soon. This is horrible and never ending. 


(former member)
(hotel in Las Vegas)
Posted: Mar 02, 2012 - 22:20
 

 


absolutely marvelous...

and Jeff Buckley's cover is incredible...  miss him...





DD rabbi_phil
(beach)
Posted: Jan 31, 2012 - 06:18
 
note to self: PM  Bill and ask him  WHY?........I know I know   because it's his radio staion and he likes it....nevermind.


ginger
(Connecticut)
Posted: Jan 31, 2012 - 06:04
 
Wow, one of my favorite songs done in a rendition that I can only rate "Sucko-Barfo". Please make it stop...or at least play the Jeff Buckley version as a follow-up to make up for this. {#Puke}


hcaudill
(Washington, DC)
Posted: Jan 31, 2012 - 06:03
 
One of my least favorite recordings of this song. Ugh, the cheap keyboards - what was he thinking?

Bocephus
(Boulder, CO)
Posted: Dec 30, 2011 - 11:36
 
I'd like it better without the backup singers.

iTuner
Posted: Dec 30, 2011 - 11:36
 
No question at all. This is maudlin.

window
(Richmond, VA)
Posted: Dec 30, 2011 - 11:34
 
I suppose an artist has the license to rework his songs as he sees fit, but in this case the results are questionable at best.

eruwenolorien
(SC)
Posted: Dec 30, 2011 - 11:34
 
 aaronm wrote:
No disrespect to Cohen, as he is the author of the song, but I prefer several covers — particularly, those by Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright — by a country mile.
 
This is the first time I've heard Cohen sing it, and I agree with you, aaronm.


ScottN
(Back from Bhutan to the condo in Gaza)
Posted: Dec 20, 2011 - 15:20
 
He reclaimed this wonderful song he wrote with his performance on his most recent tour, imo.


raulman1
(San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
Posted: Nov 28, 2011 - 17:54
 
Jamus I meant that it was the first time I'd heard the song sung by its composer.

 Jamus wrote:
What do you mean "original?" Leonard has sung this song that he wrote several different ways - as with the first time I listened to his sung poetry in 1968, he is legend, one if not the best of modern composers.
 raulman1 wrote:
This is the first time I've heard the original (the first version I heard was Jeff Buckley's cover and I thought it was an amazing song & performance) — and I wholeheartedly agree with everything Cynaera says here.  There are depths and strengths to this version that are lacking in any of the covers I've heard.

 Cynaera wrote:
FINALLY - the ORIGINAL.  Praise be to Mr. Cohen for writing this song. I've heard several versions of it, and I like a few of them, but this is the holy grail - the man who wrote the song, performed by the man who wrote the song.

Love it or hate it, it's an original in every form.  It set the bar for every other artist who undertook the challenge of performing this song in a manner worthy of the writer.

I still love Leonard Cohen's rendition the best - I'm a purist.     
 
 
 



Aud
(lost in lakecity)
Posted: Oct 28, 2011 - 03:32
 
 yodasan_magoo wrote:

Good song with a somewhat eerie presentation.  Cover versions are much better.


 

Any version is not good when it gets overplayed....

jmccleary
Posted: Oct 18, 2011 - 07:24
 
ponderous

yodasan_magoo
(Close to the far side)
Posted: Oct 18, 2011 - 07:16
 

Good song with a somewhat eerie presentation.  Cover versions are much better.



vandal
(arriving somewhere, but not here. . .)
Posted: Oct 18, 2011 - 07:14
 
How many versions of this do we really need?  A quick check shows that Bono, Burning Spear, Jeff Buckley, K.D. Lang, Leonard Cohen (2x), Martin Sexton, Rufus Wainwright, and Ryan Adams are all in the RP library under the title, Hallelujah.  Methinks this might be a tad bit too much coverage of Cohen's song. . . IMHO, of course. . . 

Frenchboop
(Paris)
Posted: Oct 18, 2011 - 07:11
 
I give this one only 9, just to keep The Partisan at one point over it.

vandal
(arriving somewhere, but not here. . .)
Posted: Oct 18, 2011 - 07:10
 
 missyanneb wrote:
Sigh.
I am kind of sick to death of this song.

I hear it everywhere.
 
bump

sqqqrly
(Baboosic Lake, NH)
Posted: Sep 26, 2011 - 11:05
 
 sunybuny wrote:

Only because idiot music procurement people hear the word Hallelujah and don't bother reading the lyrics. Or think the listeners of their application will not know the lyrics. 

I cracked up eharing KD sing it at the Olympics.... left out the 'down below' lines - gee, wonder why???? Family viewing, maybe??? 
 
They are an interesting read.


shutter
(You can't get here from there)
Posted: Sep 26, 2011 - 10:58
 
 missyanneb wrote:
I am kind of sick to death of this song.

I hear it everywhere.
 
Yup.


sunybuny
(The West Coast & Best Coast of FLA)
Posted: Sep 26, 2011 - 10:57
 
 missyanneb wrote:
Sigh.
I am kind of sick to death of this song.

I hear it everywhere.
 
Only because idiot music procurement people hear the word Hallelujah and don't bother reading the lyrics. Or think the listeners of their application will not know the lyrics. 

I cracked up hearing KD sing it at the Olympics.... left out the 'down below' lines - gee, wonder why???? Family viewing, maybe??? 


aaronm
(Eugene, Oregon)
Posted: Sep 26, 2011 - 10:55
 
No disrespect to Cohen, as he is the author of the song, but I prefer several covers — particularly, those by Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright — by a country mile.

missyanneb
Posted: Sep 26, 2011 - 10:52
 
Sigh.
I am kind of sick to death of this song.

I hear it everywhere.

lemmoth
(NYC)
Posted: Sep 26, 2011 - 10:52
 
From the author, live......Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!

vandal
(arriving somewhere, but not here. . .)
Posted: Sep 16, 2011 - 16:49
 
 handyrae wrote:

I agree — although I don't like Buckley's version much either.
 
tff
 

Mad_Pat
Posted: Sep 16, 2011 - 16:46
 
Balm for my ears after "Gajdarsko Oro"...

Cynaera
(Kenneth's Frequency)
Posted: Sep 16, 2011 - 16:44
 
 Randomax wrote:


Please, all of you consider that this is LC singing in 2009!!  In his 2009 voice....he's like 80....so give him a break.... 
 
Good point, Randomax.  I'd dearly love to see Mr. Cohen in concert before one of us is gone.  This is slow, solemn, and reverent - somehow, that lends added poignancy to the whole performance. He's a genius.{#Notworthy}

mhodak
(Raleigh, NC)
Posted: Sep 16, 2011 - 16:42
 
What version is this? This is definitely not from the Live in London album.