September 8, 2011

A Perspective: Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah

One of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard, and one that has changed my view on the world. More than deserving of the time I will take now to devote to sharing my understanding of it with you. Countless people have heard, loved, and cried to this song, but for different reasons. Jeff Buckley’s perhaps the most recognized, but far from the only cover of this Leonard Cohen gem. I believe that Jeff’s is the only version which retains the power and clarity of Leonard’s original message.

You see, many people incorrectly think of this song as one of loss, of sadness. Truthfully, even with lines referring to "cold and broken" hallelujahs, this is a song about love, but not love lost, at least not entirely. Listen to the opening verses and you will understand that he is longing for the love he remembers. What he has felt, what is still there, a longing for the physical touch and love of whoever he is calling out to. Jeff had said himself, it’s a hallelujah to the orgasm.

"Remember when I moved in you and the holy dove was moving too, and every breath we drew was Hallelujah"

I’ve heard the song described as explaining a man’s crisis of faith, "Maybe there is a God above." But remember what I said before, if it is a crisis of faith is it one over love. If anything he has lost faith in man’s definition of love, because he has discovered and lived a new one: "All I ever learned from love was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya."

So why is Jeff Buckley’s version of the song more powerful, and does it retain Leonard Cohen’s original message? Especially since it sounds so sad to most people, how can this be a song of redemption? Listen to how much the man knows about his lover:

"You don’t really care for music do ya" "There was a time when you let me know what’s really going on below, but now you never show that to me do ya"

Our narrator is calling out for the redemption that love brought him. When singers make the common mistake of calling this a sad song about loss, that is how they perform it. To perform the song reverently, and to honor it’s true meaning, it must be treated with the respect normally reserved for prayer. This song is a prayer, but not the heart broken one that so many believe it is. That is why even great voices like John Cale and Rufus Wainwright have attempted the song and at least narrowly missed the mark. A singer must have hope, love, or joy in their heart to sing Hallelujah and not be just another fake.

That is one of my favorite songs ever. There are very few songs that make me cry. And again, not in sadness, but in beauty. If you have ever heard the song Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty, when the bridge plays, you will hear a saxophone. That part makes me sob almost uncontrollably. I urge you to listen to both songs one after the other and see how you compare evoked emotion to both.

Halcyon Fox

September 9, 2011

I actually don’t really like the original..but I love Jeff’s version. It’s bittersweet and beautiful. I prefer not to know the meaning behind songs, rather create a meaning for myself. That’s what music is about, to me.

elusive star

Love the song, Adored the singer. The beauty of music is it’s ability to speak to people on different levels. The art of really good song writing is to write something people relate to, no matter the situation. Jeff conveyed the song in the context I believe it was intended, for others the song has been more ambiguous and has been performed as such. I guess that is what makes music special….

…it can be torn apart, analysed, meaningful or simply hummed with little thought given to the lyrical content. In the end, what really makes a song good is personal. I don’t get what makes some music special to someone else, but I’d never expect people to appreciate what makes certain music special to me. 🙂 Nice entry

September 29, 2011

If you want, I can send you the mp3 of that and the actual song by Mono (which is much better than mine). Alternatively, if you use firefox, they have addons that let you download the videos in mp3 format 🙂 I’m glad you liked it ^.^