Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah (Comparison Challenge)

[BarerMender]

Leonard Cohen wrote it, but K.D. Lang owns it.

[B5C2O4d7]

Yes,this is one of his best songs

[rochey1010]

WOW...This is awful....It's his song, and unfortunately he can't find the beauty of it IMO...Jeff still wears the crown....Just an opinion..don't riot <33

[ISSOLT]

No contest.  Buckley is the best. Gives me chills.

[salhawk]

remember the original is always the best .... because it is he who deserves all the credit ... covers are covers no matter how catchy they sound .... btw this is not even the original version by cohen .....

[susankhamilton]

I'll stand before the Lord of Song

With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

[txsailorboy]

There is NO comparison. The author is full of genuine soul, while the other is empty. Nice voice, but little passion for me.....I'm glad he did it though, as more peole need to hear this

[ThePinkwafflecakes]

@txsailorboy Ok....I agree that Cohen has a great amount of passion, but how can you say Jeff buckley's is empty? I feel like you're just saying that to emphasize a point. Jeff Buckley can't have been empty when he covered the song to have sang it like he did. There's no way. You can almost hear the tears.

[nittersnits]

If you want the best version -- only Leonard Cohen. He has given a gift to others to shine, but none will ever do this song his justice...

[Teodoraschannel]

By far the stupidest thing I have seen on YouTube.

[beefwellington007]

It is stupid to compare. First, Lenard is a prolific writer... a great singer, maybe not, but as a writer and performer, hard to beat. There are many artists out their that took this song, and vocally blew the sucker out of the park, and we can thank mr. cohen for that...they all can. Such a beautiful song, and when you hear it from an artist with an amazing voice and is able to convey the passion, it is very emotional.

[Martijn9]

i think jeff buckley is the best sang version

but you can hear that this is the original singer .. he sings it so pasionatly .. he really means what he sings what gives the song an amazing power

[qweeksdraw]

The winner will ALWAYS be the person that wrote the song.

[DiZastur]

I love you tube, it just opens everything up. But I see so many people just detract, detract, detract. Man, if this song doesn't open your heart up and make you want to soar, I feel for ya.

[ronbellaz]

@DiZastur -- hallelujah!!! brother ... hallelujah!

[pretender2u]

its his song, so he can do what he wants with it.

Leonard Cohen , The best..)))

[jwbarnhartmusic]

The song is excellent and the author always has the right to change up his own lyrics. Likewise, to do someone else's music; you have to make it your own. Otherwise, it becomes a cheap copy. Every version I have heard from Leonard Cohen are excellent but so is Jeff Buckleys version. If I were to do a version, it would be with these lyrics and melody line. It has to be real and from the heart to make it great. I wonder what a Peter Himmelman version would sound like?

[MauricioPereiradaFon]

the cohen's version in dramatic, buckley is more sensual, it's only different styles.

[da19lila38]

Cohen is unchallengable!

Mature, powerful, passionate performance incomparable with the other singers' versions And he is different in different versions of his . Listen to all of them to get the full idea.

[ecoo911]

@da19lila38

U Got That Right! M8 =]

[WeedyMellow]

Thats not the original version from Cohen, see video posted by WolfenSteed to find the original one...

Then you'll be able te see (hear) that no one did better than Cohen himself

[upitertucson]

I like these words bettter actually Yes a little too slow but still very very beaitiful

[upitertucson]

well, this is the best version ever.This is it.

[nini67h]

Axandra Buruke, The original, Jeff Buckey, John cale, Leonardo.

[nini67h]

This version is so boring. Ahhhhhhhhhhh.Boring!

[mrdisco6]

check out Kevin Bath's version of Hallelujah

[chookieJS]

i dont exactly like this one that much lol but i always thought that the orignal should be the first best hahah

[mrkwt77]

this isnt music.

this is poetry, beautiful poetry at that.

Buckley's version was this piece of beautiful poetry added with his own beautiful arrangement.

[brelfan]

@mrkwt77 Agreed. Don't think Buckley's version was elevated by vocals. Think it's the guitar. Vocals, KD Lang. Best interpretation, yeah, of course, Cohen. He takes his own lyrics, and clangs all the bells, everything you might have thought about them but others ignored, there in the way he sings.

[liamardo007]

what's going on below.... eh? hmmmmm!

Now you don't even show it to me do ya!!!!! Hmmmmm!

I remember when i moved 'IN' you!...... eh? Hmmmmmmm! I wonder what on earth he could be talking about??????

; )

[Hcosl]

rufus voice after the original

[Arnoldx1992]

1.Leonard Cohen(he has the original version and original stays original)

2.Jeff Buckley/John Cale

3.Myles Kennedy

[azanorias296]

what about KD Lang? You must see her

[pervisirani]

Leonard Cohen's version of Buckley's "Hallelujah" is the best by far!

Just kidding everyone!

1.cohen

2.lang

3.buckley/kate

[erelamadferit]

1. Jeff Buckley

2. Leonard Cohen

3. John Cale

The rest can piss off

[mACKs94]

1st Kate Voegele

2nd John Cale

3rd Cohen

4th Bon Jovi

.

.

.

10000000000000th: Wainright xD

[frankantoniomartin]

You can't do this contest in fairness without including John Cale, who is the one that is responsible for taking Leonard Cohen's tonal poem, and turning it into a worldwide phenomena. - Kate Voegele - Jeff Buckley - Rufus Wainwright - Alexandra Burke

were all based on John Cale's cover. Even Leonard Cohen modified his own performance to sound more like John Cale's cover.

[JehanneDeLys]

This is NOT Leonard's original either. The first & mystical best in MHO is on his album Various Positions (1985)...that begins,

"I heard there was a secret chord

that David played and it pleased the Lord, but you don't really care for music, do ya. It goes like this, the 4th the 5th, the minor fall the major lift;

the baffled king composing Hallelujah"....

[jolangjolang]

@JehanneDeLys - good point ... still whatever the question - Cohen's the winner.

[beefwellington007]

@JehanneDeLys lenoard did in 84

[timerssarah]

i love iy, but i like Rufus Wrainwright's the best

[JohnCaren09]

There is no perfection of an original.

[maclordzafra]

Imogen's is more soulful

[EverlastingCoda]

He, in my opinion. created this song, and without him, there would be no spectacular Jeff Buckley version. Also, he sort-of looks like Dustin Hoffman in the picture.

[liamardo007]

Yeah all jews look kinda' similar through in-breeding.

[jewcy6]

One of the dumber ideas in the history of YouTube in making this a "contest" about one of the most beautiful songs ever written. Great song cheapened by sophomoric mentality

[MO0OSIK]

get off ur high horse before u fall and make a fool of urself

[Smokinjoewhite]

@MO0OSIK I tend to agree with him actually and it looks like I'm not the only one. Cohens original (not this version) is in my opinion the best version, I love the lyrics in this version but the phrasing just doesn't quite feel right to me.

[SweetyMandiee]

Oh Godd I Really Don't Like This Version !

I would've heard it on the radio without knowing the name and I wouldn't have known it's Hallelujah ! :O

[danmaskell]

Isn't always better when the actual writer of the song sings it? His version is the way the song is supposed to sound.

[FluffynpinK]

I agree.

[choccie444]

But this is the original!!!!!

He wrote it so if u dont like this version ur out of ur mind!!! And if he didnt write there would be no other versions!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sofialealsantos]

I preffer jeff buckley's version...they both have very expressive voices, and the music sounds beautiful in the two versions, but in my opinion buckley's voice suits the music better (although it was written by cohen) - and it sounds wonderfull with simpler background music.

[1ojluvsmusic8]

in a way, leonard does it best coz it's his song so he knows the exact tone and feeling it should have

but there's some very decent covers

i love singing/playing this song =]

[guymandude68]

I really miss the first line - "I heard there was a secret chord that pleased the lord, but you don't really care for music, do ya?"

[sparklingmichele]

There are many verses to this song. This is the original and the composer (Cohen) chose to use "Baby I've been here before.." The version we are ALL familiar & fell in love with is the one we heard in the soundtrack of Shrek by Wainwright. This version was first performed in the early 90's sung and arranged by Jeff Buckley. He is the one who originally resurrected it and, changed a few words and left some extra ones out, so it is simple, perfect poetry.

[frankantoniomartin]

Actually the one in the movie was by John Cale, and it was recorded years earlier. The more sexual lyrics were removed. Wainwright recorded the version on the soundtrack, but on youtube, the version is frequently Cale's.

[sparklingmichele]

I thought the voice in the movie was different and couldnt understand why that wasnt the one used on the soundtrack. Everyone pretty much glorifies Wainwright for the song. It is interesting how one artist can rework something and make it so new it resounds to a WHOLE new audience. Thank you for the information. I will have to get his version. He deserves praise for what he has done, and, seemingly goes unnoticed by most of us!

[frankantoniomartin]

Cohen recorded it in 1984, Cale did his cover in 1992, Buckley in 1993 (followed the Cale cover). Cale's version (edited) appeared in the movie, Shrek, years later but Wainwright was under contract so he recorded the soundtrack. It started to explode from there. Cohen began to follow Cale's version of his original song, since most people wouldn't recognize the 1980's version any more.

[liamardo007]

The 'G' spot matey!

[MARDIE1979]

LISA!!!!!!!!!!!!

winner of dutch x-factor,The best version of this song!Check it out on my channel!!!!

[LittleRockingAngel]

I like the version of Rufus Wainwright the most i guess but the original is also good

[CurlyBurny]

Cohen's version is more sensuel!

hahaha

[dkrispin]

I think Buckley misses the point. He makes it a sad song all the way through. But the intent of the Hallelujah chorus in Cohen's has the tenor of someone confused and baffled who nonetheless cries out a Hallelujah. How somehow we manage the cries of joy even when we feel dismal and, most of all, within love, which can have us crying 'Hallelujah' even when it tears us apart. Buckley's unchanging slow tempo doesn't convey that.

[liamardo007]

So wrong! It's a porno song matey!

[LaurraBabez]

Don't like this THAT much, not upbeat enough. Too slow.

[liamardo007]

Uneducated twat!

[LaurraBabez]

no. i just like a different style of music.

[fluffybunny667]

the version ive heared has a verse about the name of god or something and the live versions are different again, bucklies version i like but he sounds really sad

[travisharder]

I like Cohen's version the best, but I prefer the original album version and the live versions he does now. It just sounds weird starting a a verse other than "I've heard there was a secret chord"

[nanakask]

Cohen is my favorite!

[allisonhappyallison]

i just can't like jeffs version. his voice sounds like it's struggling. as if he's having trouble reaching the notes. Cohen is better.

[Heidistuart]

awful awful version. Jeff Buckley is definitely the best by miles.

[sallieparker]

dreadful

[TheBigL0VER]

why do I hate this version ? i sooo love hallelujah !!!

[xciteful]

Is it just me or could Leonard Cohen and Dustin Hoffman be brothers?.... Oh and Jeff knocks this song out of the park.

[minaimborat]

yea Cohen relly brought depth to the song

Buckley did it justice thou

Rufus has a rich voice but didn't personalize the song the other versions were just copies

[jarumboy]

Buckley is incredible, but Cohen is tops.

[piesbari]

Leonard Cohen is THE BEST