Idolator

Surely I can't have been the only person a little disappointed that the song chosen to pay tribute to Leonard Cohen when inducting him into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame was "Hallelujah." It's a great song, certainly, but it's most strongly associated with Jeff Buckley, to such a degree that some people don't even know Cohen wrote it. Worse, the version performed by Damien Rice is the Buckley version, with its ascending melody line in the final chorus and persistent falsetto. It'd be like playing a rock version of "All Along the Watchtower" at Bob Dylan's induction—a fine song, but not really the best choice. So what would've been better, and who should've sung it? Well, just pick any two of the following: More »

American Idol hopeful Jason Castro performed his take on the Jeff Buckley interpretation of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" that won huzzahs from the judges tonight, thus continuing the long, strange journey of Cohen's song from hyperserious-to-an-almost-satirical-point track to something that everyone, even Simon Cowell, can be moved by. Frequent Idolator guestblogger Mike Barthel wrote a paper on the trajectory of the song—complete with graph!—for last year's EMP Pop Music Conference, and it's pretty key reading for anyone who wants to know more about this track that, judging by our Google hits over the past 30 minutes, has been "hidden in plain sight" since its first release some 20-or-so years ago. [clapclap.org]

Leonard Cohen is on the cover of the current issue of The Word, and inside he discusses songwriting: More »