THE FIRST COVER

John Cale - Hallelujah (Official Video) Song by Leonard Cohen

In 1991 John Cale covered and rearranged Leonard Cohen's song 'Hallelujah' and asking Cohen for the lyrics John was sent a fifteen page long fax choosing the six verses we know today as ' the cheekiest verses' this was then covered by Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, k d lang and others more mainstream artists like TV competition winner Alexandra Burke (who didn't like it) and Brandi Carlile, Regina Spektor, Willie Nelson, Susan Boyle, Tim Minchin, Alter Bridge, (Myles Kennedy) and a mercifully spoken version by Bono. 

Largely it is John  Cale's arrangement that people cover and if you check out earlier videos on Youtube or Vevo you will find versions of Cohen singing it live that bear little resemblance to Cale's
but for many the definitive version will always be Jeff Buckley's I imagine if like me you just find it so astonishingly beautiful. So from Leonard to John to Jeff . . . . . . . 

Enjoy!

R.I.P now Field Commander