Hallelujah

Maybe it was the cloudy weather, or the time of the day, or the fact that I was the only one in my research office today, but something definitely put me in a meditative mood. And so when I listened to Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah this morning, even though I've heard it countless times before, today was oddly different-- the lyrics resonated a little more, the guitar more haunting, and that voice infinitely more moving than ever.

Hallelujah was originally written by Leonard Cohen (whose biography, I'm Your Man has stubbornly not opened here yet...), and little known fact: his original draft had fifteen verses in total. I have five versions of the song-- all different, all wonderful. There's the classic Jeff Buckley one which I love (this will always be THE definitive Hallelujah for me, apologies to Leonard Cohen), a fascinating rock-inspired one by Bob Dylan, a melodically spare version by Bono (which might have presaged his brief foray into the techno/ electronic sound of Pop), a lovely (though short) cover by Damien Rice, and Rufus Wainwright's lush (but a little hurried) piano-centered version.

The song is complex to say the least, Leonard Cohen's song-writing at its metaphorical best. Tons of allusions to the Bible, of course-- David playing the harp, him watching Bathsheba bathe on the roof, and Samson & Delilah; but there's also a yearning throughout the song that transcends religion, a pining for fulfillment of any kind-- spiritual, romantic, existential. And the magical thing is, depending on how someone brings together any combination of those fifteen verses or how they reinterpret its core structure, it becomes a whole new song that will resonate in profoundly different ways.

So it's been playing in my head all day and I actually managed to find a video of Jeff Buckley performing it live in France in 1995 at a concert he considered the finest of his career. The grainy resolution of the video lends an eerie aura to the whole thing, making the longing in his voice even more poignant, and somehow, sad. Makes me wish I played the guitar or had my piano with me...

You say I took the name in vain I don't even know the name But if I did, well really, what's it to you? There's a blaze of light In every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah -Leonard Cohen, Hallelujah