Comment by shagie | Hacker News Reader

Comment by shagie | Hacker News Reader

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At one point in my music library, I not-quite-dated a woman who's fond of the song ... and I picked up a few versions of it in my music library. There was also a version playing on KFOG at the time.

One of the things that interesting to me about them is that John Cale did a cover of the Cohen song ... and then everyone else covers Cale's version.

I think that Rufus Wainright's version is the closest to Cale's and The Rubes have a version that is more piano.

In a quick scan through iTunes, I haven't found any (yet) that use Cohen's lyrical arrangement rather than Cale's selection.

(edit) Matthew Schuler appears to be a proper Cohen cover (complete with the female backup voices on the Hallelujah choruses over organ). It has the "Lord of Song" verse, but it didn't have the "holy or the broken Hallelujah" verse.

The Canadian Tenors also have a composition that appears to draw from the Cohen rather than the Cale arrangement.

Tori Kelly's cover has all the verses that I recognize from Cohen's version.

This is a major point made by the article. Cohen needed Cale to be his "editor", someone that could beat it into shape. Without Cale's "editing", we probably would not have all the covers today. The article then contrasts this process to what happens an author is unlucky and is faced with an editor who stands in the way of the author's vision rather than becoming a catalyst for it.

What was it about Cale’s version that Jeff Buckley latched on to that he wouldn’t have had he come across Cohen’s version while cat sitting for a friend? Do we know? I don’t think the author explains (if there even is an explanation).

But really great read nonetheless.

Search for “MALCOLM GLADWELL Revisionist History Hallelujah”. He does a whole show on the topic, and covers the major different versions.

https://www.cbc.ca/music/read/how-john-cale-recorded-the-def... has more background on the editor process that Cale did.

> Shortly after Shrek's success, Cale ran into Cohen at a Starbucks in Hollywood, where the two had consequently relocated. "I said, 'Well, I guess we did a good thing there,'" Cale recalls of the meeting. "I asked him, 'How many versions of 'Hallelujah' are there? How many can there be?' He said, 'Well, it's all your fault, you know.' And I said, 'Oh no, everybody's found something great in it because every verse has a different aspect of somebody's character.' I then told him I couldn't sing some of them because they were too religious for me, and he said, 'Yeah, you take what you find useful.'"

I will suggest listening to the Matthew Schuler cover - https://youtu.be/r6KrhD8Ts7c and see how it was inspired by Cohen's version rather than Cale's version (and Schuler's background as a church choir singer is there rather than a singer songwriter background).

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