Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah (Comparison Challenge)

*Who do you think is the best?!*
-Leonard Cohen (the Original)?
-Jeff Buckley?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfaDXWlIaI4
-Rufus Wainwright?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw8VEdbkUMU
-Kate Voegele?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU7IFj3CbPQ
-Alexandra Burke?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3MvYtZQvUc
-Espen Lind, Askil Holm, Alejandro Fuentes, Kurt Nilsen?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1maJxNdUH4
*Rate the videos and we'll see!!!*
1st - Kate Voegele
2nd - Leonard Cohen (has a slightly lower rating than Buckley but has a ton more views)
3rd - Jeff Buckley
4th - Espen Lind, Askil Holm, Alejandro Fuentes, Kurt Nilsen
5th - Rufus Wainwright
6th - Alexandra Burke

Lyrics:

Now I've 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
Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've 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 it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

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

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Leonard
• Cohen
• Hallelujah
• original
• song
• Various
• Positions
• 1984
• 80's
• old
• school
• lyrics

[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

[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"....

[JehanneDeLys]

@ThePhatSumo I take it you're unfamiliar with the biblical story of David as well as Cohen's poetry & songs. He's a very mystical man (even became a Zen monk for a while in the 90s). So no, it wouldn't "make more sense to use the word sacred" at all. On the contrary, it would not only be trite but redundant in that context. Trust me, as one who writes poetry myself, "secret" is the perfect word. ;)

[ThePhatSumo]

@JehanneDeLys Well, I can't argue with the official source. You must be right. But tell me -- if it's a secret how does he know about it and why is he sharing it with others.  Trust me it makes a lot more sense if you use the word sacred.

[JehanneDeLys]

@ThePhatSumo P.S. And of course the same "SECRET chord" in the lyric posted on THE official site: leonardcohen. com/us /music/various-positions /hallelujah (copy & close spaces in url)

[JehanneDeLys]

@ThePhatSumo Actually, apart from every reliable lyrics site, "secret chord" is also correctly written as the lyric on the official (i.e. approved & contributed to by Leonard himself). Ref: leonardcohenfiles. com /album8.html#61 [copy & close spaces in url] ;)

[ThePhatSumo]

@JehanneDeLys It's not a secret chord. It's a sacred chord. Hardly anyone gets the lyrics right.

[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

[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.

[ISSOLT]

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