Ken Wallingford

B00535122
Music History I
December 2, 2010

In 1984 Canadian novelist, poet, and musician Leonard Cohen released his

sixth studio album entitled Various Positions. The album featured nine songs, one of

which was the song “Hallelujah.” In 1991, John Cale, one of the founding members of

Velvet Underground, recorded Cohen’s “Hallelujah” for a tribute album to Cohen. In

1994, American musician Jeff Buckley covered Cale’s version of “Hallelujah” on his

debut album, Grace. Each artist has created his own versions of the song. Cohen, the

originator of “hallelujah,” wrote over 15 verses for the song, but the song was

unheard of except to his fans. Cale took the 15 verses and formed the song that most

people know today. Finally, Buckley took the song and gave it a performance. The

poetic expression in his voice humanized the song, making it accessible to all.

Although Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is not a relatively old song, the

history behind the song is long. Over 100 versions of the song has been recorded. It

was sung in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, on American Idol and in the British

version of X Factor. However, there is only one version that is the most popular to all

audiences. Due to its emotional attainability and popularity, Jeff Buckley’s cover of

“Hallelujah” has become the version of the song most covered by artists, both

professional and not. His expressive and high-ranging voice allows for listeners to

share a sense of intimacy with the song and with Buckley. His instrumentation

decisions gives the performance depth, allowing the music to guide the listener on

an emotional rollercoaster.
 In David Brackett’s book, Interpreting Popular Music, Brackett asks whether

listeners connect the music we listen to with the historical background of the song

and person who sings it.1 In looking in to the life of each individual this question

suggests that there is a connection between the musician and the popularity of the

song. Both Cohen and Cale are both still alive, each living a relatively normal life.

Buckley died in 1997 at the age of 30, two days before beginning the recording of his

second studio album. As with the deaths of many musicians, people are always

interested in hearing the songs of a musician when he or she dies. It helps people get

to know the artist and understand a little more about what their life was like.

With Cohen’s deep yet smooth, bass vocals accompanied by the synthesizer

and harmonizing back-up vocals, “Hallelujah” sounds similar to gospel music.

However, the way in which he performs the song with no defining emotion, suggests

that Cohen purposely sung it so that the song sounded vague, leaving room for the

audience to interpret and connect to in their own way. Cale’s version is much

different due to the simple piano and vocal arrangement along with the string

section. Both artists have baritone voices, which leaves the listener feeling reflective.

On top of that, some of the word differences in the two versions have a significant

impact on the reader. In the original version, the last verse ends with: “nothing on

my tongue but hallelujah,” whereas in Cale’s rendition the final verse has the same

last line as in the third verse: “it’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah.” Even with this

small change in lyrics, the meaning of the song also changes for the listener. Cohen’s

1
David Brackett, Interpreting Popular Music, (California: California University Press,
2000), 34.
version of the song depicts “bittersweet regret, Cale has utter despair,” 2 for his

interpretation is much darker and filled with hopelessness. The words “cold” and

“broken” suggest that there is no way of redemption. For Cale, the use of the piano in

the song helps depict that image of solitude and despair.

Buckley’s high tenor vocals invoke a different kind of sensual intimacy. 3 The

electric guitar combined with his raw voice depicts his pain and allows listeners to

be drawn in and to share the experience. 4 For the first minute of the song, Buckley

improvises an introduction before moving in to the verse. This style of

improvisation is slow but relaxing, creating a sense of intimacy between musician

and listener. The verses have a very different quality to them because many times

Buckley’s singing sounds like he is speaking the words of the song. This draws out

much emotion from his voice, as it shakes it sounds raw as if he had been crying.

This is similar to the times he sings hallelujah. As Buckley sings higher and higher, a

stronger vibrato can be heard in his own voice. Although he often sings the word

hallelujah in falsetto, there is a variety in which he sings it so that it makes the

listener feel like he is being pulled in and back out like waves of emotion washing

over oneself. Most significantly was the way in which Buckley reached a climax at

the height of the song right before he performed an improvised-sounding solo. As

his voice climbs higher and higher, the listener can feel greater tension building
2
Michael Bathel, ‘“It Doesnʹt Matter Which You Heard”: the Curious Cultural Journey
of Leonard Cohenʹs “Hallelujah,”’
http://web.archive.org/web/20080404002642/www.clapclap.org/2007/04/hallelujah.html.
(2007), accessed 17 November 2010.
3
Shana Goldin-Perschbacher, “Not with You But of You:’ Unbearable Intimacy and
Jeff Buckley’s Transgendered Vocality,” Oh Boy!: Masculinities and Popular Music, ed.
Frey Jarman-Ivens (New York: Taylot & Francis Group, 2007), 214.
4
Ibid.
within Buckley as though he is about to burst with so much passion and despair.

Then his voice fades and the solo comes in sounding as though he could not truly

express what he wants. Finally, as the final hallelujahs are sung in a unique manner

compared to other version, giving the listener, not the pleasure of knowing that

Buckley is rid of his pain, but that there is an inner struggle that remains within him.

While Cale decided to speed up the tempo of the song, Buckley brought the

tempo back down, allowing for a slow steady pace with which he went in and out of

syncopation. This use of dynamics emphasizes certain notes, enhancing the amount

of emotion one gets from the song.

In a time where the male musician ruled the garage punk rock music scene,

Buckley “had no shame with addressing the subject of love.” 5 Buckley’s voice was a

rarity among male musicians due to his ability to sing in upper register. Without

singing in falsetto, Buckley could reach some very high notes as a tenor. Buckley was

as comfortable at playing female songs as he was playing songs for men. 6 Whether

the songs were meant to be sung by a female or not, it did not matter to him for

Buckley was not afraid to show a feminine side. This is why Buckley is willing to

allow his voice sound vulnerable as though he loses control of himself while singing.

The honesty and emotion with which Buckley plays and sings, allows many male

listeners to connect with their “feminine side” – that is to say that unlike with Cohen

and Cale, the male listener can feel the emotion and react similarly. One fan

explained that Buckley’s music speaks to him and tells him things about himself that

5
Goldin-Perschbacher, “Not with You But of You”, 219.
6
Ibid, 213.
he has always known but has been afraid to discover.7 Buckley’s music invokes

enough intimacy to bring the listener deep within oneself in a way that he may be

guided to accept difficult ideas he would not have before realized. In these ways

Buckley has set a new standard with what can and cannot be sung by a man. He

defines the definition of what men can sing, so that all men are free to sing which

ever song they want in as high or as low as they want, without being feminine.

Buckley’s ability to connect with his male and female audience is one of the

major reasons why so many television series in the last decade have used Buckley’s

version of the song. Scrubs, The West Wing and The OC have all used the song in their

television shows (The OC having used other versions of the song as well).8 Each

television used the song in a dramatic moment, emotionally pulling the audience,

whether boy or girl, in to the moment. However, instead of bringing the audience

within oneself, the show uses the soundtrack to bring the audience in to the hearts

and minds of the characters in the show.

Buckley had a very different approach to his music from regular

commercialized music. For him it was important that his listeners didn’t judge his

music based on a music video but on the way it sounded and interacted with the

listener.9 Buckley was concerned solely with his music and the interaction that was

occurring between himself and his audience. Buckley once said in an interview that

the way he experiences a performance “is that there’s an exchange going on” 10 that

allows for intimacy much different than a regular rock, folk or R&B concert. This is

7
Goldin-Perschbacher, “Not with You But of You”, 220.
8
Barthel, “It Doesn’t Matter.”
9
Dimitri Ehrlich, Inside the Music (Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, 1997).
10
Ibid.
evident in his cover of “Hallelujah” due to the sincerity and honesty with which he

sings. Buckley isn’t afraid to show his soft side, whether to an audience or a

journalist. This is clear within the first two seconds of the song when he lets out a

small sigh that is, in itself, so descriptive. Buckley’s sigh tells his listeners that he is

feeling a sense of despair, loss and hopelessness. Most predominantly however, is

the feeling of distress.

Buckley’s rendition of Cohen’s song has become the version covered by a

multitude of artists from across the world. In 2008, the song saw a lot attention.

Alexandra Burke, the winner of the British reality show, X Factor, released a

condensed version of “Hallelujah” as her winning song. Jason Castro sang the song

on American Idol that year as well. His delivery was described as “not a version

reminiscent of the original take by… Leonard Cohen, but one that paid homage to a

second-generation musician Jeff Buckley.”11 More recently, Canadian singer k.d. lang

recorded her own version of the song, as did U.K. star Susan Boyle. Each of these

four artists used shortened versions of Cale and Buckley’s song. It must also be

noticed that each time an artist – such as those aforementioned – has performed the

song, Buckley’s interpretation has received a surplus in downloads. After Castro

performed “Hallelujah” on American Idol, Buckley’s cover topped Billboard’s hot

Digital Songs chart with 178, 000 downloads sold.12 A similar situation occurred

with both Burke and lang upon the release of their versions of the song.

Jeff Buckley’s interpretation of Cale’s “Hallelujah” has come to be a timeless

although perhaps, over-used, piece of music. With the tragic and premature death of

11
Geoff Mayfield, “Over the Counter,” Billboard, 120, 12 (2008), 69.
12
Ibid, 69.
Buckley, his cover has become the most well known of the countless versions. His

vocal talents, reaching in to a typical female range, has the raw passion of an honest

man who is not afraid to show fear, loss, confusion, or distress. These qualities are

what make Buckley’s cover so attainable to both listeners and other musicians.

Although there are sure to be many more covers of “Hallelujah”, Cohen’s version will

always be known as the original, Cale as the definitive lyricist and Buckley, as the

man who gave it heart.