Since then, the song was covered over 300 times. Buckley’s version went on to become the most well-known recording of the song. Jeff Buckley heard Cale’s version and did his own cover on his 1994 album Grace. He used the modified lyrics, based on Cohen’s 1988 live version. However, it was covered by John Cale, in 1991, for a tribute album. The song wasn’t all that popular when it first came out.
Cohen addresses God: “But you don’t really care for music, do you?”įor others, we talk about the evolution of a relationship through a metaphor that mixes sex and religion.Ĭohen originally wrote around 80 verses of the song, and used a different selection of the verses in the original recording and in a 1988 live performance. King David’s “hallelujah,” in the book of Psalms, is said to have pleased the Lord. By some interpretations, Cohen is in an argument with God.