History of Hallelujah

I forgot which academic blog tipped me off to this, but I thought you might like to learn about The History of Hallelujah.

Hipster Law Prof started listening to Leonard Cohen back in college, which to me sounds like forever ago. I love the early '90s, but I was you know, 11 in 1991. When he thinks of this song, he thinks of John Cale's cover version on Cohen's I'm Your Fan.

When I first heard this song, of course it was the Jeff Buckley 1994 version. Somehow, in those short three years between 1991 to 1994, I suddenly turned into a teenager and acquired a taste for sad and/or angry music. And this version is insufferably sad and overwrought. Well, the song is pretty damn insufferably sad and overwrought itself. But I remember listening to Buckley's Grace as a morose teenager and being That Sad Poetry-Writing Girl. I have since stopped listening to Jeff Buckley. I don't know if that makes me a better or worse person, but it certainly makes me a less emo one.

So, in that spirit, I'll post the version I know best. What's your version? Please, please don't tell me Fall Out Boy. I might have to think worse of you.