Alexandra Burke - Hallelujah

[Bad Wolf]

[ame="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AratTMGrHaQ"]YouTube - Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah[/ame]

for those of you who dont kno who jeff buckley is (most of my firends as it turns out- i made myself look a right prat in the pub on saturday, because no one knew who i was on about),

this is his version


enjoy xx

[Katy]

It is good i have to admit, but i do prefer the version by Jeff Buckley

[Siobhan]

I love this song.. I think Alex does a great version of it.. I love Jeff Buckley version and the version on Shrek is done by Rufus Wainwright...

[Bryan]

Jeff Buckely's version is awful, it's so depressing. I know it's a sad song but Alex's version is more uplifting and i prefer it that way.

[tammyy2j]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ES6Ja8lCis"]YouTube - Alexandra Burke- Hallelujah- OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO![/ame]

[Siobhan]

Brilliant.. amazing voice, amazing song

[miccisy]

The stupid wailing and screeching are horrible and unnecisary. They ruin a delicate song like this. Would much rather listen to the old version of this song

[megan999]

The only part I like about this song is the chorus. I don't even understand the lyrics. Can someone explain what this song is about please? I cannot understand all the hype going on around Alex. Give me Leona anytime over Alex. And I prefer Leona's singing to Alex's.

[Perdita]

Alexandra Burke's hopes of a Christmas number one with Hallelujah are under threat from another cover version of the same song.

The X Factor winner's debut single can already boast being the fastest-selling download single ever in Europe.

But an internet campaign by anti-X Factor groups has seen demand for the late Jeff Buckley's version gather pace. It is third in the unofficial midweek charts.

A spokesman for HMV said chart rules meant he was unable to reveal the exact sales of each release, but that just 10,000 more sales were needed for Buckley to overtake Leona Lewis's version of Run, which is currently in second place.

If this happens Hallelujah will be in first and second place in the charts - the first time a song has done this.

But it seems unlikely Buckley will take the coveted number one place - the first single from X Factor winner Alexandra has already broken records for downloading, with the CD single not due to hit shop floors until tomorrow.
By 11.59pm on Monday, 149,548 copies of the single had been downloaded - the biggest week one download ever.

The previous record was 139,000 for Leona Lewis's X Factor winner's song A Moment Like This.

On Sunday, the first day Alexandra's version of the song went on sale, more than 105,000 copies were downloaded - smashing the previous record of 82,000 in one day for A Moment Like This.

A spokesman for Alexandra said she was 'overwhelmed' by the record breaking sales.
'She can't even take it on, these are incredible figures,' he said.

The Cash Factor: Don't be fooled, the real winner is Simon Cowell
The Cringe Factor: It's cheesy and cliched... but that's why we all love it

HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said that the idea of Alexandra not taking the number one spot seemed 'unthinkable', although not impossible.

But he added: 'Just when it looked like the X Factor had taken all the unpredictability out of Christmas, the charts are coming back to prove they remain capable of throwing up a surprise.'

Buckley's version of the song previously topped the download chart in March this year after it was performed by Jason Castro on American Idol.
Buckley released the song on his debut, and only, studio album Grace in 1994Less than three years later he died in a tragic accident while swimming, at the age of just 30.

Following his death, he was nominated posthumously for a Grammy Award for his song Everybody Here Wants You in 1998.

His version of Hallelujah was deemed one of the 500 Greatest Songs ever by Rolling Stone magazine, who also gave Buckley a coveted spot in the 2008 list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time.

Buckley fans mobilised support in the Facebook group Jeff Buckley for Xmas no. 1, which has nearly 60,000 members.

The group's mandate is: 'Following the rather depressing news that this year's X factor finalist will be covering Leonard Cohen's beautiful Hallelujah, I think everyone should download the Jeff Buckley version, instead of buying the inevitably soulless version churned out by Simon Cowell's Crimbo flash in the pan...

'We can make this work, and make a huge statement against the barrage of cynical manufactured pop dirtying up our charts. I am willing to download this version the week the X factor version comes out, and I know others will be too.'

Daily Mail

[Perdita]

The only part I like about this song is the chorus. I don't even understand the lyrics. Can someone explain what this song is about please? I cannot understand all the hype going on around Alex. Give me Leona anytime over Alex. And I prefer Leona's singing to Alex's.

The lyrics are as follows:

i heard there was a secret chord
that david played and it pleased the lord
but you don't really care for music, do you
well it goes like this the fourth, the fifth
the minor fall and the major lift
the baffled king composing hallelujah

hallelujah...

well your faith was strong but you needed proof
you saw her bathing on the roof
her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
she tied you to her kitchen chair
she broke your throne and she cut your hair
and from your lips she drew the hallelujah

hallelujah...

baby i've been here before
i've seen this room and i've walked this floor
i used to live alone before i knew you
i've seen your flag on the marble arch
but love is not a victory march
it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

hallelujah...

well there was a time when you let me know
what's really going on below
but now you never show that to me do you
but remember when i moved in you
and the holy dove was moving too
and every breath we drew was hallelujah

well, maybe there's a god above
but all i've ever learned from love
was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
it's not a cry that you hear at night
it's not somebody who's seen the light
it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

hallelujah...

Wikipedia explains the following:

The original recording is noted for containing biblical references in the lyrics, alluding to David's harp-playing used to soothe King Saul (1 Samuel 16:23), and his later affair with Bathsheba after watching her bathe from his roof (2 Samuel 11:2). The line "she broke your throne and she cut your hair" is a reference to the source of Samson's strength from the Book of Judges 16. The third verse mentions "the name" (Tetragrammaton). In these instances, the lyrics are overtly sexual. Jeff Buckley called his own rendition of the song a homage to "the hallelujah of the orgasm".

In 1994, Cohen released a substantially different version on the 1994 live album Cohen Live, retaining only the final verse from the original recording. In this version, the lyrics became more sexual, and the song's structure was slightly reworked. Since his original studio album version, live performances by Leonard Cohen almost invariably include the final song verses not performed by Cale and many others. Many cover artists mix lyrics from both versions, and occasionally make direct lyric changes such as Rufus Wainwright singing "holy dark" and Allison Crowe singing "Holy Ghost" rather than "holy dove". Although individual words do change among various versions, apart from such examples of clear revision by interpreters, any variation may be due to selection from Cohen's complete lyrics rather than alterations by the cover artist.