Hallelujah For American Idol, Jeff Buckley & Leonard Cohen

Katie Halper March 5, 2008 | 4:24 am EST

Jason Castro sang Hallelujah on Tuesday’s American Idol, which made Simon, a fan of Jeff Buckley’s cover of the song, a very happy judge. But the irony of the Hallelujah’s American Idol-level popularity is that when Canadian singer songwriter Leonard Cohen first recorded the song in 1984 on his Various Positions album, Columbia records opted not to release the record because, at this point, Cohen was not as popular as he once was in America. But Cohen remained popular in Europe and in his native Canada. And Hallelujah wound up being one of his most popular songs ever. It was covered by artists including Rufus Wainwright, Bob Dylan, Regina Spektor, Bono, K.D. Lang, Sheryl Crow, John Cale to name just a few. But it was the late Jeff Buckley’s cover which became the most well known, and was ranked #259 on Rolling Stone’s “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” and dubbed “the most perfect song ever” by Q Magazine. And the song has been translated into Welsh and Norwegien. Oh, yeah and it has been featured in films like Basquiat, The Edukators A Lot Like Love, Shrek and TV series like House, M.D., Falcon Beach, The L Word, The O.C. The West Wing, Scrubs, Without a Trace, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, ER, The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Crossing Jordan, Rescue Me, Third Watch, LAX, Lost, Ugly Betty, Numb3rs and Nearly Famous.

So check out Jason’s version to see why it made Simon so happy. Then check out Jeff Buckley’s version that immortalized the song. You’ll be inspired by how beautiful it is and saddened to know that Jeff Buckley died in a tragic drowning accident when he was only 30 years old. So and check out Road to Recovery, a non profit founded by Buckley’s former manager Gene Bowen and supported by Buckley’s mother Mary Guibert, which is dedicated to helping young people live healthy lives through mentoring, educational and live performance based-programs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxWtke1poCU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AratTMGrHaQ

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Tagged as:Basquiat • bob dylan • Bono • Cold Case • Criminal Minds • Crossing Jordan • ER • Gene Bowen • Hallelujah American Idol • hallelujah lyrics • hallelujah song • Jason Castro • Jason castro hallelujah • Jeff Buckley • jeff buckley hallelujah • John Cale • K.D. Lang • LAX • Leonard Cohen • leonard cohen hallelujah • Lost • Mary Guibert • Nip/Tuck • Numb3rs and Nearly Famous • Q Magazine • Regina Spektor • Rescue Me • Road to Recovery • Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" • Rolling Stones • Rufus Wainwright • Scrubs • Sheryl Crow • Shrek • The Edukators A Lot Like Love • The L Word • The O.C. The West Wing • The Shield • Third Watch • Ugly Betty • Without a Trace

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5 Responses to “Hallelujah For American Idol, Jeff Buckley & Leonard Cohen”

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This may be Leonard Cohen’s masterpiece. He’s written other great songs, but Hallelujah reaches all generations. Thanks to the internet, it’s now heard in choir form, solo, rock, folk and everything else. There’s lots of versions on My Old Kentucky Blog @ http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/2008/02/mokb-covers-project-hallelujah-repost.html My favorite is by Allison Crowe. Versions by Rufus Wainright and John Cale in Shrek have really helped introduce the song to a younger audience. Hallelujah is becoming a modern classic. Good on Jason for picking it to sing!
Dean March 5, 2008 | 6:22 am EST
[...] Full post here. [...]
What’s hot today? Hot Trends Review » Blog Archive » Hallelujah For American Idol, Jeff Buckley & Leonard Cohen March 5, 2008 | 7:16 am EST
[...] Hallelujah For American Idol, Jeff Buckley and Leonard Cohen [...]
TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup! | TakePart Blog Network March 7, 2008 | 3:11 pm EST
Greatest credit goes to songwriter Leonard Cohen, of course, but it was JOHN CALE, before anybody else, who pared the song down to its bones and gave the rendition that was then copied by Buckley, Crowe, Wainwright, etcetera. He deserves credit for seeing the gold in Cohen’s song. I’m sure Buckley must have heard his version.
julia collins March 14, 2008 | 10:25 am EST
if course he did. he admitted to having heard cale’s version in the film “I’m Your Fan” and basing his upon it. however, there’s no denying that only buckley had the pipes to make the song truly great.
the meggie June 2, 2008 | 11:34 am EST

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5 Responses to “Hallelujah For American Idol, Jeff Buckley & Leonard Cohen”

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