It might be.
In a strange and lovely synchronicity, Rufus Wainwright sang it last night in the Christchurch Town Hall. He also sang a gorgeous number about fellow singer Jeff Buckley (whose version of Hallelujah is also considered one of the supreme covers of this classic).
Wainwright paid tribute to the song’s creator, fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen. And Mr Cohen will be in Christchurch next week.
Hallelujah.
29 October 2010 at 8:38 am
It is! It’s certainly the most beautiful. Aching, lonely, love, sadness, happiness, God, and the absence of any god.
I think I love Jeff Buckley’s version the most. Words can’t even describe…
29 October 2010 at 9:10 am
I’ve just played Cohen’s version again, right now and my answer would be YES!
29 October 2010 at 10:14 am
“But you don’t really care for music, do you?”
I love that line – it’s so Leonard Cohen.
29 October 2010 at 10:32 am
I love that line too Tulip, so casually sarky.
Jeff sings it like an angel, Rufus like a naughty choirboy … and Leonard like a ladies man whose seen it all.
I’ve just realised my favourite song is very much like this – Nick Cave’s Brompton Oratory – it has all those elements that Bookiemonster listed:
No God up in the sky
No devil beneath the sea
Could do the job that you did, baby
Of bringing me to my knees
29 October 2010 at 11:55 am
Why are so many female middle-aged librarians obsessed with Leonard Cohen? I think he should be banned, miserable old coot, driving hundreds to depression and suicide. He’s a danger to public health. Him and that misogynistic horror Dylan. (If this doesn’t provoke you, nothing will)
29 October 2010 at 2:03 pm
You might just invoke the wrath of the so-called middle-aged librarians above, because middle-aged they ain’t!
2 November 2010 at 12:35 pm
The middle aged librarians are on such a Cohen high (seeing him this week) that we cannot be provoked!
29 October 2010 at 3:03 pm
It is a great song but I don’t know if it is the greatest. Is the test of greatness how many different artists can do credible covers of a song.Or that very diverse people really respond emotionally to it. Or that it survives replay after replay. I’m thinking two NZ songs – Loyal and Not Given Lightly which often ring bells for people.
29 October 2010 at 4:03 pm
There is a lovely version on Shrek (one or two – not sure which), and KD Lang does an amazing version. And the original. Funny Leonard and his songs keep popping up in my life the last couple of days. Think maybe it might be my funeral song?
31 October 2010 at 12:11 pm
what as in ‘so long Mariononon’
31 October 2010 at 12:11 pm
what, as in ‘so long Mariononon’?
31 October 2010 at 9:59 am
I have a hard time deciding whether Leonard Cohen’s original or the KD Lang cover grabs me the most, but either way I stop and listen whenever I hear them.
31 October 2010 at 12:13 pm
is anyone going to the Leonard Cohen concert, have a spare ticket??
1 November 2010 at 8:39 am
I fell for Cohen as much for his first novels (The Favorite Game and Beautiful Losers) as his songs but if I ever decide to self-terminate I reckon I’ll have “Dress Rehersal Rag” from Songs of Love and Hate on the stereo at the time.
1 November 2010 at 10:58 am
My favourite Leonard song is ‘Ballad of the Absent Mare’. It’s brilliant. Poets like Mr Cohen and Bob Dylan make life worth living. They take raw experience and craft it into something beautiful. When I listen to them I feel reassured not depressed. Trance music on the other hand – urgh!
3 November 2010 at 9:41 am
I have loved Leonard Cohen since about 1979 when my friend’s boyfriend played his records constantly, in between The Jam and the Sex Pistols. I was a student at university, my point being that I was far from being the middle aged librarian I am now! His concert in 1980 in Edinburgh was one of the most joyful, uplifting, funny and talented shows I have ever been to and highlighted the poetry and spirit of this wonderful man. So ya, boo, sucks. And what’s wrong with middle aged librarians? We rock (sometimes a bit too much and we get a bit dizzy)!
4 November 2010 at 7:52 am
“There is a crack in everything – that’s how the light gets in….” Fantastic concert. leonard Cohen, you make growing old look really really cool.
4 November 2010 at 12:01 pm
I love all versions, including the KD Lang version, which when I saw her do it recently on TV unaccompanied brought tears to my eyes! I’m so sad I couldn’t make the concert, which ‘delivery Andy’ told me was great, but it was so expensive!
I will have to settle with listening to my CD’s, and playing the ‘wondersong’ on my ukulele – yes, it even sounds cool on my Uke!