Last week's "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon generated tens of millions of dollars for earthquake relief in the Caribbean nation. Part of that support comes from the album that accompanied the special, which immediately shot to the top of the Billboard Top 200. It contained a number of excellent musical projects, from Shakira's cover of "I'll Stand by You" to Beyoncé's reworking of "Halo," but the biggest-selling tune from that night remains Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris' take on Leonard Cohen's immortal "Hallelujah."
It's just the latest success story for the song, which has had a remarkable lifespan since it was unveiled back in 1984. The song has been recorded, covered and paid tribute to dozens of times, and for anybody looking to put together the ultimate "Hallelujah" playlist, here are the best versions.
Leonard Cohen
Cohen's original is a tremendously spare, gorgeous hymn that features his rich, gravelly, haunting voice. It's an incredible song that was somehow improved-upon with subsequent covers. Grade: A
Jeff Buckley
Cohen wrote it, but Buckley's version is definitive. He takes the song's original chilliness and infuses it with passion, sadness and more than a little sex. This version also lives on because Buckley died so soon after he released it — it was as though he was providing the score to his own tragic passing. Grade: A+
John Cale
Cale's cover is at least partially responsible for the song's initial resurrection, and it splits the difference between Cohen's minimalist original and Buckley's over-the-top tour de force. Grade: A
Rufus Wainwright
Wainwright's version (which appeared on the soundtrack to "Shrek") follows closely behind the Cale version (in fact, Cale's actually appears in the movie). But his nasal croon lends the tune an extra bit of sweetness — it's the cheeky "Hallelujah." Grade: B+
Bob Dylan
He's never recorded it, but Dylan has covered "Hallelujah" live on multiple occasions. It's a lot like Cohen's original, except filtered through a healthy dose of Dylan's ramshackle blues. Grade: B+
U2
Again, you have to go to live versions or bootlegs to hear it, but Bono lends a whole lot of widescreen drama and his operatic bellow to the song, turning the volume on the song way, way up. He did the same thing with the version he did for a Cohen tribute album in 1995 (which adds electronic beats and spoken-word verses. Grade: B+
Fall Out Boy
Pete Wentz and his merry men actually don't cover "Hallelujah," though they do interpolate it into their song "Hum Hallelujah" (from Infinity on High). During the breakdown, they drop a choir who sing the melody from Cohen's "Hallelujah," and the lyrics may actually reference the song itself. Grade: B
Paramore
The band has their own song called "Hallelujah," which doesn't have any relationship to the Cohen song. But in live performances, Hayley Williams has busted out a version of the tune as an intro to her own. Interestingly, the song's ubiquity often turns it into a teenage shout-along, and Williams' approach is not unlike Buckley's (but with a bit of emo adrenaline thrown in). Grade: B
Gepe
He's a singer from Chile who recorded a version of "Hallelujah" in Spanish that underscores one of the key scenes in the excellent baseball drama "Sugar" (which tells the story of a Dominican pitcher who tries to make his way into the major leagues in the United States). It's beautiful, complicated and sad — a perfect rendition. Grade: A
Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris
The live, sparse version the pair performed at "Hope for Haiti Now" was gorgeous and spare — well worth the sales its currently racking up on iTunes. Grade: A
So that's 10 versions of the same song, and none of them are any lower than a "B" grade. Not a bad strike rate.
What's your favorite version of "Hallelujah"? Vote in our poll and leave your thoughts in the comments!