Watch and listen -... because Rufus Wainwright and Jeff Buckley and kd lang have beautiful voices, but they are not the master.
Click the picture to hear and see Leonard Cohen, live from London, singing his holy and broken Hallelujah.
Hallelujah
Leonard Cohen
I heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift, the baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelu----jah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof, you saw her bathing on the roof, her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne, she cut your hair, and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelu----jah
Maybe I have been here before, I know this room; I have walked this floor, I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch, love is not a victory march, it's a cold and its a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelu----jah
There was a time you let me know whats really going on below, but now you never show it to me, do you? (and)
Remember when I moved in you; the holy dark was moving too, and every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelu----jah
Maybe there's a God above, and all I ever learned from love was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
And its not a cry you can hear at night, its not somebody who's seen the light, its a cold and its a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelu--jah
11 comments:
No I can't listen until I am prepared to be reduced to a blubbering mess!
His is my favorite version. And that is a great photo!
I love that song, and he sings it wonderfully.
I love Leonard Cohen, but you need to dig out your ears, if you think what your hearing is more beautiful than KDLang or Jeff Buckley. Sorry, there is just no comparison. And I love L.Cohen, but I'm not blinded by it.
I do like me some Leonard. *nods*
We just bought a Cohen CD, I think it's The Best of....
Mostly for this song. John Fullbright, a young singer/songwriter from the same home town as Woody Guthrie does a wonderful version of Hallelujah that makes me cry every time.
Oh How I just love that song!!! It touches my soul each time I hear it!
Oh and yes, Cohen's is the best version!
I do love his version - after all - the one and only original but Jeff Buckley's is pretty awesome too. I have about five versions myself and I've heard more.
He was at Fox in Oakland beginning of April. I couldn't get tickets.
Thank you for that. That has recently become my favourite song. I did a search to find a clip of Cohen performing it, but the one I found was disappointing. I personally love Rufus Wainwright's rendition, but this nearly brought me to tears. I find it amazing how an aged man, standing on a stage with no special effects, backdrops or lighting, singing a slow, simple song, can be so compelling.
Thank you again.
We share the same taste in music (and poets), especially McKennitt and Cohen, and I agree, nothing beats Cohen's version (at any age) of his song.
I do, however, love the version Damien Rice has on his first album, O. He covered it at Cohen's induction into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, but the version on the album is much better ~ with the bleeding heart violin and cello ~ it's morphed with one of his own original songs, though, but nonetheless, it's quite lovely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEKCsSlK3jg
Stevens and Carlos Williams are two of my favorites, along with my all-time favs, Tennyson ("Tears, Idle Tears," "In Memoriam," "Charge of the Light Brigade") and Dickinson.
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