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“'Hallelujah' was obviously an itch to scratch for Cohen, who drafted 80-some verses and tortured himself over the lyrics, famously sitting in his underwear at New York’s Royalton Hotel, notebook in hand, banging his head on the floor,” Louder writes.
The song was given its due a decade later when Buckley got ahold of it. He released the track on his only album, Grace, and elevated the lyrics with electric guitar, “starting out rich, sad and slow, then blossoming into a shimmering instrumental passage that stopped all the clocks,” Louder writes.
The song became a touchstone of Buckley’ live performances. He would close every show with it, bringing fans to their knees. But there was one person he hoped would never hear his version. And that was Cohen himself.
Buckley’s cover of Cohen’s song saw delayed chart success. According to Billboard, the critically acclaimed cover first reached the charts in 2008, topping Digital Song Sales after American Idolcontestant Jason Castro performed it on the show.
“Buckley’s ‘Hallelujah’ has also become a pop-culture staple, featured in numerous film and TV shows, including episodes of The O.C. and The West Wing,” Billboard shares. The track and its artist are explored in depth in Sony Pictures' near-perfect 2025 documentary, It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley.
View this post on InstagramNo matter whose version you prefer, we have to first give thanks for Cohen, but then also praise Buckley, who died of an accidental drowning in 1997 at the age of 30, but not before transforming a beautiful but forgotten song into a timeless standard.
Related: 1983 Power Ballad Blocked From No. 1 by Its Own Songwriter Makes ‘Greatest Songs of the ’80s’ List
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