It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

The songs I am going to compare this week are "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen and the cover done by Jeff Buckley. Now more people are familiar with the cover by Jeff Buckley than they are the original. Honestly I myself was surprised to learn that Jeff's version is not the original because I have always heard his version, I had never even heard the original before.

 

Musicality
Leonard Cohen sounds more gruff and has a bit more of a baritone voice. He sings much more slowly like he is talking it out instead of singing it which reminds me of how Johnny Cash sings in most of his songs. While Jeff Buckley sings more softly and he has a mellifluous voice as if he is serenading the song to someone he loves. The way Buckley sings it makes me feel more connected to his words than when Cohen sings it. I still believe Cohen did a good job but I feel more connected when the chorus kicks in and they start singing "Hallelujah" over and over again. Cohen seems to be a bit more of a jazzy singer while Buckley sounds more depressed with the way he sings it compared to Cohen.

 

Lyrics
Jeff Buckley and Leonard Cohen both have the same lyrics. Jeff only changed a couple of random words that do not make much of a difference to the meaning of the song as a whole. Though Leonard Cohen has a few more lyrics that Jeff did not include in his cover. This song seems to be talking about faith and how people sometimes go through things that really affect them in profound ways that may make them lose that faith. One of the most powerful lyrics is this stanza:

"Your faith was strong but you needed proof/ You saw her bathing on the roof/ Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you/ She tied you to a kitchen chair/ She broke your throne, and she cut your hair/ And from your lips, she drew the Hallelujah."

The song itself is interesting because it takes a second person perspective, talking about a person namely the "you" who has been humiliated by this random woman. Another lyric that really shows how this person has lost their faith in either love or God is: "Love is not a victory march/ It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah." This person has been through love and knows what it's like to either have your heart broken or been through the highs and lows of being in love with someone.

It is never made clear as to whether this person has lost their faith in love itself or God for what he/she has gone through. I always assumed that the song was referring to a man, however it is unclear as to who the singer/songwriter is really referring to because it is in a second person perspective. The stanza that shows that this song is either talking about losing faith in love or God is:

"Maybe there's a God above/ But all I've ever learned from love/ Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you/ It's not a cry that you hear at night/ It's not someone who's seen the light/ It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah."

I take "Hallelujah" to mean thank God, however I do not understand why anyone would thank God for making love so complicated and hard for this person. Maybe the singer/songwriter meant that if love was not as complicated as it is, no one would grow and everything would be tedious and predictable. I always took this song to have some sort of religious connotations in it. Maybe love is supposed to be a manifestation of what God should or would be if you met him.

I would also like to touch up on the lyrics that Buckley did not include in his cover that seem to give more clues as to what the song is supposed to be about.

"You say I took the name in vain/ I don't even know the name/  But if I did, well really, what's it to you?/ There's a blaze of light in every word/ It doesn't matter which you heard/ The holy or the broken Hallelujah."

Personally I believe the whole song has beautiful lyrics, even though I myself am not a religious person. I also noticed that the singer/songwriter starts with "I" then switches to "you" then goes back to "I" and it is unclear whether he is talking about himself the whole time or just some random person when he says "you". The other stanza that Buckley did not include is:

"I did my best, it wasn't much/ I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch/ I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you/ And even though it all went wrong/ I'll stand before the Lord of Song/ With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah."

Cohen continues to mention God in some way or refer to God by saying Hallelujah in every stanza in the song. In the end the only lyric that Buckley changes is instead of the original lyric "how to shoot someone who outdrew you" he changes the "someone" to "somebody".