Jeff Buckley: Hallelujah

The death of Leonard Cohen was reported in the news this week, always accompanied by the phrase, "the composer of 'Hallelujah'" to enlighten the many who would simply have no idea who this man was.
Cohen was a creative soul of rare wit and intelligence who had survived on the fringes of mass fame for almost half a century before the aforementioned song achieved global success on the back of talent show cover versions.
The great irony in this of course, is that almost all of Cohen's work is marked by understatement and good taste, which was obliterated by the hysterical and overblown would-be stars on TV reality shows.
I first became aware of the song as recorded by Jeff Buckley on his stunning 'Grace' album released in 1994, just three years before his own death at the absurdly young age of 30.
It was an immaculate instance of a singer taking someone else's song and making it his own (cf Hendrix 'All Along The Watchtower', Presley 'Hound Dog', The Beatles 'Twist And Shout'. Indeed, one aspect of my forthcoming book is the glory of finding the right singer for the right song, and it's not always the original composer.
Buckley embraced the song's spirituality and intimacy, presenting a seven-minute solo masterpiece, paired here with an astonishing accompanying video by the Christian dance company, Synesthesia.
This is indeed a song of grace, joy, love and redemption, and perhaps one of the most affecting and perfect creative combinations you will ever experience: with grateful thanks to Messrs Cohen and Buckley.
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[@RobinMarkowitzcoolmedia]

Stunning tribute. Takes my breath away. As does the song and Buckley performance. Thank you George.

[@RobinMarkowitzcoolmedia]

I have read that book on the song, but I still am finding layers of meanings beneath other layers of meaning. At the end of it all, it seems to be about love gone cold. Bonds cut and the emptiness following the original Hallelujah. It needn't be about romantic love, either. Sure it can, but it also can be a child, male or female, desperately singing about the one who gave them life and now that love has gone cold and broken. We all move inside our mothers as we grow toward life and the cries of "hallelujah." It could be the blood of Christ calling out to the savior after he no longer needed earthly blood moving through Him on the road to Damascus. Intriguingly, it could be both of those. The list goes on. There is no one meaning.
Cohen was said to work harder on his songs than most. He didn't just overwrite and then cut out the superfluous parts of verses and chorus. He worked hard at it all until he felt satisfied. Yet this song feels as though it practically wrote itself. Many great songs give you that feeling and it is often true. Grab a guitar, sit at the piano, or a typewriter/word processor, a pen and it just oozes out. It sounds like that but it was not created that way. It took a lot of sweat to compose this because that was generally the way he worked. It just sounds as though it were born of serendipity.

[@GeorgeSmith-ro7ku]

It is great art, profound but simple. It appears effortless yet clearly cost more then we need to know. cf "Mystery Train", "Long Black Limousine", "I Shall Be Released" ...

[@RobinMarkowitzcoolmedia]

George, you forgot "I Didn't Make It On Playin' Guitar." Truly effortless. LOL
Just foolin.' But the thing is that it takes commitment and hard, hard work. It's just that many great writers don't even realize that they did work hard no matter how they did it.
Cohen happened to know how he worked. And so did those around him. He always worked very hard. He wasn't in a rush. I think that's amazing.

[@stacik2905]

So beautiful.