The Story of Hallelujah

Really excited about this one! As I said in the intro, huge credit to Malcolm Gladwell and his podcast, Revisionist History. The story and evolution of Hallelujah are incredible. I didn't know about it before I heard his podcast, and I want to tell the world! Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and all the other pieces of the puzzle here deserve the recognition. Hallelujah is beautiful!

[cassandralyris]

NEVER go swimming in cold water in your clothing! We had to learn this as little kids in Minneapolis. Your clothes get waterlogged and the cold acts as a paralytic, you can and will go under real fast. Shame it happened to Jeff.

[drcthru]

Cohen said K D Lang's version was the best he'd heard and it brought him to tears.

[misstahj]

The first version I had ever heard was Leonard Cohen's original and it may be the fact that its the first time I heard it but I think Cohen's heavy, deep voice brings a gravity to the song that Buckley's or most others just don't

[madshunt]

It's even crazier that Jeff Buckley's dad Tim Buckley was also a musician who died young...

[kyleandrewhopper]

Bob Dylan was the first to notice its greatness and cover it live in 1988.

[oooo]

k.d. lang doing it live at the Olympics, I don't think it gets better but thanks to Buckley helping it get noticed, beautiful version too

[goldwincs]

Great video. Perfect format. Keep this up mate. Very much enjoying it.

[madmau]

I still prefer cohen's version.
I feel like everyone treats It like an overly weepy song. When it's supposed to be this beautiful song with a powerful optimist message.
It's noticeable when they avoid the most important verses:
And even tough It all went wrong
I'll stand before the lord of song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.
Sorry everyone else Is just too damn angsty and It feels like they just don't get It

[StilettoCutsQuick.]

The song is so great that I don’t think I have ever heard a bad cover of it.

[SobrietyandSolace]

I lie awake at night thinking about this stuff all the time. If the stars aligned in just such a way to bring us all the masterpieces that we cannot imagine not being part of history and our lives now, then just how many masterpieces and geniuses have we lost or will never know of or recognise because they didn't get their big break, or they had an idea for a tune in their head but never wrote it down, performed it or recorded it etc? Even just thinking about all the talented musicians, artists and other content creators on YouTube I've never seen or heard of out there throws me through a loop. I am also so grateful for the works that we do have, because they could so easily have never come to be. You expressed my thoughts perfectly. It truly is scary to think about!

[hiiiiflyin]

rufus Wainwright's version is my favorite. it's the first version I ever heard, and theres for sure other amazing covers/versions out there but I prefer Wainwright's slower understated version than any others.
and yes. it was the first version I had heard of it and it was from shrek. sue me.

[nateds]

Jeff Buckley's version of hallelujah is the greatest cover I've ever listened to.

[ChimeraActual]

Thank you, a good history of a powerful song.
Jeff Buckley's father, Tim Buckley, a well known folk singer, as well as other styles, also died early, age 28.

[albertoguiraldelli]

I bought I'm Your Fan here in Brazil. It's was the first time I heard Hallelujah. The John Cale version. Thank you for the history of this amazing song.

[jewfroDZak]

I get the terror feeling. I had that same feeling in relation to a song that got it's just due and became popular 50 years after it was released as a single. it blows my mind that people could have heard it in 1968 and not thought it was amazing back then. Even back then Bob Dylan, being interviewed by the Rolling Stone magazine, said that that single was the best record he'd heard in years and he was in awe of it. How, in the universe that follows fundamental laws, does that even make sense at all? The most famous musician in the world mentioned in the most famous rock and roll magazine in the world a song that he considers to be the best new music being made at that moment. The song being talked about itself is one of the most amazing songs I've ever heard . It was ahead of its time definitely, but it's not avant-garde or anything. It's incredibly accessible actually-infectiously catchy. Simple chord progressions. And several hooks. It's almost formulaic in it's pop sensibilities. I heard it outsde off any context with my headphones on, no hype, no nothing. Casually listening to a YouTube radio channel. I was digging it hard--It's the type of song that when you hear it for the first time, you think you had already heard it some time in the past. I thought that anyway. It somehow sounds iconic without having any musical legacy to speak of. I look at the info that YouTube had about the song on that channel I was playing it on and iuu saw that it came out in 1968. The terror first showed up at that precise moment. And i still smell the lingering residue of that terror in every shadow i cast, to this very day. I had to come up with a theory to explain it all. I still kind of half-ass believe the theory too--that this entire story I just laid out for yall is really just the most elaborate prank in history being pulled on me by a time traveler from the future Earth. As improbable as that may seem, to me that makes more sense and it's more likely to be true than what history currently says--that this song wasn't the biggest song of 1968...the terror.

[bethr]

I already loved Cohen, but I am one of the few, I guess, who owns I’m Your Fan, and that is when the song really hit me.

[hernanbusso]

An important part of the story is missing. BOB DYLAN heard the song and covered it himself, even before John Cale.

[Niklas]

Hey Alfo, great video, really enjoyed to hear the story behind the song. I also really enjoy your blend of showing your face on camera and showing relevant footage for your commentary. It gives the video a personal touch, while pofiding visuals for the story you are telling. I don't know if you are happy to hear about music suggestions or if you get so many, that it is getting annoying, but I want to recommend the german newcomer band Giant Rooks to you, just thought you might like them because I enjoy about 95% mentioned in your videos. I love the bands sound, but can't quite put my finger on what makes it stand out.

[phoenixrising]

Don't forget that the band Bon Jovi who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also made this song famous who has played it. In a crazy way....this song and it's story are sooo perfectly aligned.. it's about intense struggle and failure again and again and then the universe finally aligns in a miraculous way.... Nothing short of a miracle.. to get to your Hallelujah! Very much like a Hail Mary Moment! I absolutely love love love this song! Thank you for sharing the story!

[MegTenk]

With my limited experience and knowledge, I would have to say Safetysuit's version of Hallelujah is the absolute best and most creative I have ever heard.