Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” on Crystal
Though released in 1984, Leonard Cohen’s beautiful “Hallelujah” didn’t catch on until it was covered by John Cale a few years later. Since then, more than 200 different artists have covered it, including Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, k.d. lang, and Bono. Having “laid our alleluias to rest” during Lent, now seems the perfect time to hear one more cover of Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” this time from street musician Petr Spatina, playing the piece on crystal glasses.
Notes: 1) If you are receiving this post by email, you may need to click here to watch the video.
2) Thanks to Diane for sending this my way.
3) If you’re interested, you can read more about Cohen’s piece at Wikipedia or about this performance at Open Culture. And there are lots of recordings by Cohen himself, many with lyrics, available at YouTube.
Thank you for sharing this with us. It is beautiful and brought tears to my eyes. Not something you would expect from glasses filled with water. For me it’s a new way to visualize and remember my Baptism, music from water and glasses. Praise be to God!
I, too, thought Leonard Cohen’s piece was beautiful, and stirred my spirit. I thought that I might play it before service as a praise song. So I went out and bought it. Then I read the words to the whole song………………hmmmm – maybe I won’t be playing it in church. And I don’t think I’m a prude. Too bad I really liked it.