Summary
Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' took him years to write. It originally had as many as 80 verses. Recorded for his 'Various Positions' album, it was almost ignored when first released in 1984. Only Bob Dylan saw its true worth and would play it live. John Cale eventually recorded a version which was heard by an obscure musician called Jeff Buckley.
The song has been covered by hundreds of artists including Rufus Wainwright, K.D.Lang and Alexandra Burke.
We hear from those whose relationship with the song is deep and profound: singer Brandi Carlisle listened to it over and over again as a troubled teenager; it became a sound-track to James Talerico falling in love and Jim Kullander made a connection with the song after the death of his wife.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others. |
| 0:05.1 | My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland. |
| 0:11.3 | It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here, |
| 0:16.2 | but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world. |
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| 0:21.1 | range of skills and strengths, we've trained journalists, people who love digging through |
| 0:25.9 | archives, we've got drama and even comedy experts. We really can do those stories justice. So if you |
| 0:31.9 | like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK. |
| 0:39.5 | I think there's an extraordinarily universal spiritual feeling behind the song. |
| 0:48.3 | From the Jewish perspective, it's got very clear biblical origins. And of course, David is there in the first line, and it clearly refers to King David in the Bible. |
| 1:00.6 | I heard there was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord. |
| 1:07.7 | But you don't really care. |
| 1:08.8 | And it talks about this secret chord that pleased the Lord. |
| 1:15.6 | And he plays some music which calms the nerves of King Saul. |
| 1:21.1 | The baffled king composing, hallelujah in the line in one of the versions of the song |
| 1:33.2 | the baffled king |
| 1:34.7 | composing hallelujah there is a sense that |
| 1:37.2 | when we talk about the music that comes from David |
| 1:39.9 | where does that inspiration come from |
| 1:42.4 | he doesn't really know but it's something divine. |
| 1:48.9 | I'm Alan Light. I'm a music journalist, and I'm the author of The Holy or the Broken, Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the unlikely ascent of Hallelujah. |
| 1:58.3 | Hallelujah was a song that kind of tortured Leonard for years |
... |
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