Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah (video clip)

"Hallelujah" is a single recorded by Canadian artist Leonard Cohen, released on his music collection Various Positions (1984). Achieving little initial success, the music found greater popular acclaim through a cover by

 

John Cale, which inspired a cover by Jeff Buckley. Buckley's version is the most enduringly popular and critically acclaimed cover of the single to date. It is the subject of the book The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah" (2012) by Alan Light. In a New York Times review of the book, Janet Maslin praises the book and the single, noting that "Cohen spent years struggling with his tune 'Hallelujah.' He wrote perhaps as many as 80 verses before paring the music down."

Following its increased popularity after start featured in the film Shrek (2001), many cover variants have been performed by many and various singers, both in recordings and in concert, with over 300 versions known. The single has been used in film and television soundtracks and televised talent contests.