I can't quite put my finger on why, but that Jeff Buckley version has the effect on me that nails on a schoolboard have on most people. Whiney, finnicky... Utterly dreadful and I hope I'll never have to listen to it again!
Berend | 12.14.08 - 7:55 pm | #

leonard cohen is the greatest. glad you gave him a shout-out. rufus wainwright covers him nicely, too.
matt mash | 12.14.08 - 10:11 pm | #

The panning shot of the balcony singers makes for a pretty harrow fashion-viewing experience.
A | 12.15.08 - 12:00 am | #

Er, "harrowing," that is.
A | 12.15.08 - 12:01 am | #

I like to think that the third line of the first verse is aimed at the audience...
J
John Soanes | Homepage | 12.15.08 - 9:55 am | #

This online essay:

http://www.clapclap.org/2007/04/ ...hallelujah.html

tells all about the evolution of the song from Cohen to commercial-ness.
sam | 12.15.08 - 2:29 pm | #

The only person I want to hear cover Hallelujah is Nick Cave, as he has a similar baritone to Cohen but might offer an interesting arrangment

. It was very disappointing to yoo-toob it and find that Cave has written a song called Hallelujah but it's not a cover of Cohen's song.
Jacob Z. Clinton | Homepage | 12.16.08 - 2:35 pm | #

Over at my blog (Just Sitting and Thinking) I'm reviewing past Christmas No 1's, and contrasting with the US version. Today - Mister Blobby and Mariah Carey, but I also make the same prediction you do - this will be number one at Christmas this year.

Oddly, the first version I hear dof this was the Rufus Wainwright one in Shrek, but I've since heard the original, the Jeff Buckley one and the Bono spoken version. For me, the Bucklet one is the most melancholic, and therefore the best version.
Mike | Homepage | 12.16.08 - 4:23 pm | #

But see, there's more to the song than melancholy. I like the Buckley version on its own merits, but it lacks the defiance and ecstasy that the original uses to temper the despair. I hate to sound like I'm parroting the excellent clapclap.org essay above, but it lacks some of the complexity of Cohen's version, and so its canonization as the definitive version bugs the hell out of me.
Zach Adams | 12.16.08 - 5:01 pm | #

The clapclap.org does miss out the excellent story attatched to Cage's cover.

Cage asked Cohen for the lyrics, having told him he wanted to copy it. Cohen said he'd fax him it, and Cage returned to sheaves of paper - Cohen faxed him all 13-15 verses he's written.

I saw Cohen live in Edinburgh this July. He was amazing.
Jonny K | 12.16.08 - 6:54 pm | #