The Senior Choir of Wilfred Jury Public School under the direction of Rosemary Bannerman perform Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" as the closing number for the prelude to begin the Christian Family Sunday service on June 18, 2008 at Strathroy United Church. "Hallelujah" is a song written by Leonard Cohen. It was first recorded on his 1984 album Various Positions. It has been covered numerous times and featured in the soundtracks of several movies and television shows. Different cover versions of "Hallelujah", and different performances by Leonard Cohen himself, sometimes include different lyrics from those in Cohen's original 1984 recording. However, although individual words do change between various versions, most of the variation may be due to selection from Cohen's complete lyrics rather than additions by the cover artist. In a 2001 interview with The Observer, John Cale said: After I saw [Cohen] perform at the Beacon I asked if I could have the lyrics to "Hallelujah". When I got home one night there were fax paper rolls everywhere because Leonard had insisted on supplying all 15 verses." The original recording from 1984 is noted for containing explicit biblical references in the lyrics, alluding to David's harp-playing used to soothe King Saul (I Sam. 16:23), and his later affair with Bathsheba after watching her bathe from his roof. The line "she broke your throne and she cut your hair" is likely a reference to the source of Samson's strength from the Book of Judges. The third verse mentions "the name" (Tetragrammaton). In these instances, the lyrics are overtly sexual. Jeff Buckley called his own rendition of the song an homage to "the hallelujah of the orgasm". In 1994, Cohen released a substantially different version on the album Cohen Live (recorded in 1988), retaining only the final verse from Various Positions. In this version, the lyrics became more explicitly sexual, and the music was slightly reworked. Many cover artists mix lyrics from both versions, and occasionally make other changes (such as Rufus Wainwright singing "holy dark" and Allison Crowe singing "Holy Ghost" rather than "holy dove"). In the section of the lyrics "the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift", the chords move as described in the lyrics. In C major, for example, the chords would move as follows: F ('the fourth'), G ('the fifth'), Am (a movement downwards and to a minor chord), F (a movement upwards, and to a major chord). As well as recording a cover of the original version, in February 2007 Alistair Griffin rewrote the lyrics to reference the soccer player Mark Viduka. Leonard Cohen gave permission for this to be released as a charity download in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. Lincoln Brewster released a rewritten and retitled version, "Another Hallelujah" on its album "All to You" in August, 2005. Welsh rock-outfit Lostprophets uses the song's sentence "I've seen this room and I've walked this floor" in their track "Can't Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won't Save You This Time)" on their 2006 album Liberation Transmission. It is not clear if this use is coincidental or not. Author: rocketsforever Keywords: Strathroy United Church Wilfred Jury Public School Leonard Cohen Hallelujah Added: June 10, 2008
