Cohen/Cale Hallelujah branch

In the previous post, 2nd Hallelujah, I described how I think of the different covers of the Cohen sond, "Hallelujah," fall roughly into 2 branches, one branch strongly influenced by John Cale's interpretation, and one branch strongly influenced by Jeff Buckley's interpretation. That post had links to live performances by both those artists. In this post I'm going to link to several covers I think fall in the Cale branch.

Perhaps the best known in this branch is Rufus Wainright's. Although my brother Luke has been mentioning Wainright to me for awhile, I hadn't listened until I started this Leanord Cohen kick. Wainright is a gifted performer. His take on this song seems to come directly from the Cale interpretation.


K.D. Lang can sing.


The majority of covers of this song on YouTube are amatuer. Not fair putting her right after Wainright and Lang, but I thought she did a good job.