"Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen Video Showcase

"Hallelujah" is a song written by Leonard Cohen.

It was first recorded on his 1984 album Various Positions. It has been covered numerous times and featured in the soundtracks of several movies and television shows.

One of the best-known covers of "Hallelujah" was recorded by the American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley for his 1994 album, Grace. This version of the song is a sparse production of vocals and guitar, and was influenced by John Cale's earlier cover of "Hallelujah" which appears on the 1991 Leonard Cohen tribute album I'm Your Fan.

John Cale's version was featured in the 2001 animated film Shrek.

Rufus Wainwright covered the song as well, and his version appears on the film's soundtrack album rather than Cale's. This is apparently because Wainwright is signed with Dreamworks SKG and Cale is not.

The score for Shrek features similarities to the music of "Hallelujah", indicating it could have been influenced by the song.

Among the many other musicians who have performed covers of this song are Chad Justin Smith from the band Chadwick and the black polka dotted blouses Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge, the italian singer Elisa from her album "Lotus", Maxwell Murder of Saturday's Car Ride Home, Jeff Martin, Alex Lloyd, Sephira, Willie Nelson, Elisa, Beefy, Bono, Bob Dylan, Bon Jovi, Bret Darby, Clare Bowditch, Fred Eaglesmith, Steve Acho, Rufus Wainwright, Allison Crowe, Patricia O'Callaghan, David Bazan, Jackie Greene, Fiona Apple, John Cale, Julie Felix, Damien Leith, Anthony Michael Hall, Bettie Serveert, Custard, k.d. lang, Kevin Max, Gord Downie, Simple Plan, Gov't Mule, Steffen Brandt/Tina Dickow (in Danish translation), K's Choice, Enrique Morente (flamenco version, translated to Spanish), Street to Nowhere, Wayne Whittaker, the Prayerbabies, Kevin Christy, Kathryn Williams, Lucky Jim, Over the Rhine, Pat Terlizzi, Myrra Malmberg, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, Michael Wolff, The Teamakers, Imogen Heap, Jimm Zombie, Joe Wilson, and Hilary Scott.

Fall Out Boy sampled the song on their 2007 album Infinity on High, on the track "Hum Hallelujah". The West did a cover of the song on the "4 Song EP" entitling it "Song for Leonard". The website SadKermit.com posted a cover of Sad Kermit covering the song in Buckley's style.

Another published cover can be found on the single Tausend Tränen Tief (1999) by the German band Blumfeld. Counting live performances, the list of artists who have performed "Hallelujah" includes Ari Hest, Chris Frank, Betty Buckley, Brandi Carlile, Bon Jovi, Connie Champagne, Doug Parmenter, Howie Day, Gavin DeGraw, Dave Dobbyn, The Dresden Dolls, Chris Clonts, Damien Rice, David Ford, Jay Clifford, Mike Winger, Tim Minchin, Regina Spektor, Starsailor, Donna Lynne Champlin, Alter Bridge, Todd Carey, Pain of Salvation, Sheryl Crow, James Yarsky, Jeff Waters, at17, Popa Chubby, and David Bazan (of Pedro the Lion).

Chris Botti recorded an instrumental version of the song for the album December. Susanna and The Magical Orchestra performed their take on the song at the London Jazz festival; broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on the 13th of December 2004. An a cappella version by Clemson University's "TakeNote" is included on the "Best of College A Cappella 2006" CD.

The University of Oregon a cappella group, On the Rocks also does a version on their album, Full Coverage. Danish a cappella ensemble Vocal Line recorded the song for their 2006 album, "Vocal Stories".

Bono and the Edge (from U2) performed the song at one of their concerts out of respect for Jeff Buckley just after his death. Australian comedian and musician Tim Minchin performed the song as a duet with Geraldine Quinn at a live show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2005, footage of which can be seen on YouTube.

A Norwegian group including Espen Lind, Kurt Nilsen, Alejandro Fuentes and Askil Holm performed the song under the name De Nye Gitarkameratene. A parody version of them and the song was made under the name Hallelujah-kameratene (including Espen Beranek Holm, Marit Voldsæter, Ole Morten Aagenæs and Kai Taule under the Norwegian award show Komiprisen on the Norwegian tv-channel NRK and later under another award show named Gullruten which runs on the tv-channel TV2 Welsh group Brigyn have covered the song and changed the lyrics to festive Welsh lyrics.

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Photo author: Julia Krause from flickr.com