The Holy or the Broken

Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah"

By: Alan Light

Narrated by: Tom Perkins

Today, "Hallelujah" is one of the most-performed rock songs in history. It has become a staple of movies and television shows as diverse as Shrek and The West Wing, of tribute videos and telethons. It has been covered by hundreds of artists, including Bob Dylan, U2, Justin Timberlake, and k.d. lang, and it is played every year at countless events - both sacred and secular - around the world.

Yet when music legend Leonard Cohen first wrote and recorded "Hallelujah", it was for an album rejected by his longtime record label. Ten years later charismatic newcomer Jeff Buckley reimagined the song for his much-anticipated debut album, Grace. Three years after that, Buckley would be dead, his album largely unknown, and "Hallelujah" still unreleased as a single. After two such commercially disappointing outings, how did one obscure song become an international anthem for human triumph and tragedy, a song each successive generation seems to feel they have discovered and claimed as uniquely their own?

©2012 Alan Light (P)2017 Tantor

Love Cohn and this Is a Great Story

As so many, Hallelujah is a very special song to me and this book presents such special meanings and a better understanding. While reading this, I downloaded many of the ‘covers’, songs by others, talked about here.

A Song Becomes a Classic

I came upon this book in 2022, 10 years after it was written. It's surprisingly fascinating. Alan Light mixes facts and criticism about the song “Hallelujah” with a light touch. I learned a lot about the lives of Leonard Cohen and Jeff Buckley as well as the song’s gradual growth into a classic. Light was especially good at judging the merits of the performances by artists as varied as John Cale, Rufus Wainwright, Jon Bon Jovi, KD Lang, Susan Boyle and the contestants on shows like American Idol. As I listened, I found myself running to YouTube or Spotify to check out the versions he was describing. I never tired of hearing a different version!

The narration by Tom Perkins was clear and strong.

Everything you could possibly want to know about that song.

Title tells it all. That song has quite a history and it’s all here. The power of Shrek! Fascinating.