Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer's suicide

I think the claim that Buckley's version of Hallelujah is better than Cohen's (even the initial 1984 version) is controversial, at minimum :-)

The observations about obscurity are good ones, however -- A Confederacy of Dunces is a fantastic book, and it's hard to say how many other fantastic works of music, literature, &c. are lost in closets and old laptop hard drives. But I think it's not as much about genius as the author seems to think: given that we don't actually know the denominator under "known great works to unknown great ones," it seems equally plausible to me that "genius" is not the rare or distinguishing thing we always treat it as.

Seems a little unfair on Yetnikoff and Gottlieb. There are potentially a whole heap of songs and books that are _potentially_ better than both Hallelujah and A Confederacy of Dunces; but they are undiscovered, and most will remain that way. It seems unfair that the author of the piece, with super-duper hindsight and a firm hand on the survivor bias handle, picks two survivors and then ridicules the editor and reviewer who didn't see precisely what everybody else didn't see either. Seems a bit of a cheap shot.

Last month a guitarist named James Hargreaves posted a YouTube video [1] proposing a fascinating theory about the hidden chord that Cohen refers to in the first verse of Hallelujah (“Now I've heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord”).

In the video, Hargreaves makes the case that the hidden chord is the third chord. It would be unplayable on an instrument tuned at the time of King David, and it is the chord that Cohen plays in the chord progression in the first verse under the word ‘composing.’ He then links this up with the ‘third cord’ (no h) from Ecclesiastes which indicates God blessing a marriage by being the third person in the marriage. This then explains the reference “But you don't really care for music, do you?“ and the second verse which talks about King David and his affair with Bathsheba. Hargreaves then goes even further and suggests Cohen might have had an affair like King David and wrote this song to claim it was true love and blessed by God, as the third cord.

Not sure how real this all is. But given that Cohen took years to write the song it would be quite likely there is a deeper meaning.

[1] https://youtu.be/mp9hYxw-Q6I?si=OUB8W5m5dSckBOG2

One of the local music venue owners used to be tour manager for Leonard Cohen. When Cohen died, this guy organised a tribute concert with a whole bunch of local talent.

The guy that did Hallelujah is a fantastic rock guitarist and, recognising that the world was Halellujah'd out, did a rock version, more along the lines of Hendrix' Star Spangled Banner than anything I'd ever heard before. It was _awesome_ (literally awe inspiring).He was so into it he had no recollection later of what he'd done or how he'd performed, but to the audience it had as much power and feeling as the 'real thing'.

Sadly, there's no recording of it in any form. I've asked him a few times if he could do it again so it could be recorded, but he says he doesn't even want to try because it was just of the moment and he didn't think he could do it again

Odd to hear Leonard described as a late bloomer

True he did not make records until his thirties, but Songs From a Room was a huge influence on me, in the 1970s

Leonard was a huge star in many parts of the world then

My introduction to Hallelujah was via Malcolm Gladwell's podcast. A good portion of Season 1, Episode 7 (2016) was dedicated to the evolution of Leonard Cohen's song from 'forgotten B-side track' to the song that is commonly known and covered today.

https://youtu.be/4OKQTl09vCk?t=1180 (link to 19:30) https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/halleluj...

The author of this submission mentions this podcast:

> On his podcast, Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell presents his theory on two types of artists: conceptual innovators and experimental innovators. Conceptual innovators create their best work early on in their careers.

Both this submission and Gladwell's podcast are based on Alan Light's 2014 book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Holy-or-the-Broke... / https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Broken_Hallelujah_Roc...

A caution to those who are going to go grab "Confederacy of Dunces".

It is the equivalent of the "trainwreck reality TV" a la "Jersey Shore" but written significantly before that was a "genre". If you like that kind of humor, you will like the book. If you do not like that kind of humor, you will find the book quite the slog.

The "trainwreck reality TV" aspect is, in my opinion, why the book had such difficulty gaining traction with the literati.

Immediately after the book won the Pulitzer in 1981, Gottlieb could not recall Toole or the manuscript. In his 2016 memoir, Gottlieb wrote that, after returning to A Confederacy of Dunces decades later, he felt the same about its flaws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gottlieb

I find it strange when I hear this song sung and played in church services and other religious events where, I believe, they think it's a religious song of praise or somesuch.

Songwriting could be labeled a weird phenomenon like why do people suddenly have/hear melodies and lyrics pop in their head (myself since a teen). Where does it come from as I often wondered.

Though songwriters write differently a lot write as noted above like Dylan, Dolly Parton and countless others (it just comes to them). While others like Cohen work on their songs .. maybe write a poem and then add music to it.. it's not all heard at once in their head. Elton John writes music to Taupin's lyrics. I have tried that before but the lazy boom hear it in my head and sing in Voice memos to remember it later i prefer. Im definetly none of those people mentioned above but songwriting is something i enjoy immensely.

Me and my girfriend moved to Paris at the beginning of 2020, to a nice little apartment in the Le Marais district. The first Covid lockdown started a couple of months after we came and we were soon all trapped in our tiny spaces, with not much to do, and unable to fully enjoy our very first warm and gentle Paris spring.

Our living room overlooked a closed courtyard and (if you were impolite enough!) you could see in all the neighbors apartments. One guy used to play a record of Buckley's Hallelujah every evening, just as the sun was about to set. Never missed a day, and I found it amusing, at times irritating, but now I remember it very fondly.

There's a key aspect of Cohen’s success that stands out: his resilience to rise after a fall. After being defrauded by his longtime manager, Kelley Lynch, and nearly going bankrupt at 70, Cohen embarked on an extensive world tour from 2008 to 2013 to recover financially.

As a fan of Leonard Cohen’s music, Hallelujah ranks lower on my playlist compared to other songs like those from I’m Your Man, Recent Songs, and New Skin for the Old Ceremony."

I don't remember when I first heard Hallelujah. But I do remember that I was mesmerised from the first verse.

People interested in Hallelujah should read the exhaustive book The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah" which was also turned into a documentary film Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song.

I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Cohen on his final U.S. tour. He crooned and gyrated on the stage for 3+ hours and over 30 tracks, including two encores, in his mid-70s at that point. He never lost it, even at the end.

> it. Listen to Leonard Cohen’s version, John Cale’s version, Rufus Wainwright’s version, and Jeff Buckley’s version. Each version is as beautiful as the other, although Buckley’s version transcends them all

No. Cohen’s is better.

I watched a documentary about his life and his battles with the music industry, structured around Hallelujah. I recommend it. I felt like I got to know both the artist and the person.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt7600742/

This song is perfection. It transcended the medium and became something else entirely. Well and truly, a masterpiece.

I don’t have an opinion about whether Cohen or Jeff Buckley version is better, they are equally beautiful. For anyone new to Jeff Buckley check out his live stuff at cafe sin-e. The first time I heard “Be Your Husband” I got goose-bumps. That guy had some amazing talent.

This article reminds me of “the last days of roger federer”

As a Gen Xer, I’ve consigned both Hallelujah and A Confederacy of Dunes to the “maudlin Boomer works” dustbin in my mind. Cale’s version is the best, but I far prefer Paris 1919.

I daresay I'm in a minority of one, but I cannot abide Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. In my opinion one of the most overrated songs in all of popular music.