Hallelujah (track)
by Jeff Buckley
Hallelujah appears on the following album(s) by Jeff Buckley:
- Grace (track #6) (this album) (1994)
- So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley (track #13) (compilation) (2007)
- Live At Sin-é (Legacy Edition) (track #34) (2003)
- Jeff Buckley Live À L'Olympia (track #10) (2001)
- Live At Cabaret Metro (track #13) (2019)
- Live At Wetlands (track #8) (2019)
- The Jeff Buckley Collection (track #1) (compilation) (2010)
- Jeff Buckley: It's Never Over (track #2) (compilation) (2025)
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Showing latest 3 ratings for this track. | Show all 702 ratings for this track.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Track ratings | Avg. track rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/14/2026 08:37 | Siromynian | 20,126 | 71/100 |
| ! | 07/30/2026 20:37 | stareaterogni0n | 6,691 | 69/100 |
| ! | 07/13/2026 05:55 |  nextorgd | 354 | 97/100 |
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This track is rated in the top 1% of all tracks on BestEverAlbums.com. This track has a Bayesian average rating of 91.7/100, a mean average of 90.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 92.0/100. The standard deviation for this track is 14.9.
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soundguardian 05/29/2013 19:26 | #77596
Basing this song on Leonard Cohen's exceptional composition, and yet manipulating it in a unique way (with carefully decided tone and instrumentation), Grace recording artist Jeff Buckley both personalized "Hallelujah" further and made it more accessible and famous. It's no wonder that this version is now the standard inspiration for current recording artists to developed their own covers, respectively.
My interpretation focuses less on the underlying meaning of the song (as Leondard Cohen composed and wrote the lyrics of the original a decade earlier), and more on the arrangement and Buckley's execution. From that first moment, a heaving breath (of nerves? of despondency? exasperation?), to the huge climax and that long maintained syllable (followed by a very suspenseful silence), Buckley successfully takes us, the listeners, on a very emotional experience.
While the original Cohen version was a muttering of his beautiful lyricism, Buckley surges new life - some humanity - through the veins of "Hallelujah". Cohen's had been very monotone and at times underwhelming. Then Buckley's version was sweeping with restrained, but intense, impassioned dynamics that would culminate when appropriate and settle when necessary to invoke the intended emotional response from a listener. All of this would match with the instantaneous message of the lyrics - when the narrator senses beauty, glory, or nostalgia, we feel it; when the narrator feels grief, or feels wounded / exposed, or is disillusioned, Buckley puts sadness into his voice, and we feel that, too.
No doubt this is the greatest rendering of one of the most-covered, most influential, and most beloved songs of the last thirty years. It's a shame that Jeff Buckley's legacy is limited to such a small - but brilliant - repertoire. Luckily, after his death, live and compilation records were published and distributed posthumously. (Edited)
The best version of what might be the greatest song ever written, followed closely by John Cale's. Absolutely breathtaking. (Edited)
9999 TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/16/2015 16:35 | #149879
This would probably be my favourite cover of all time if it weren't for Jimi's "All along the watchtower". Gorgeous. (Edited)
Romanelli TOP 100 COMMENTER 01/23/2012 21:55 | #35745
An amazing version. Jeff Buckley's voice was made for this song. (Edited)
CharlieBarley 02/26/2019 02:34 | #232638
Phenomenal. If I were a British celebrity it would be one of my Desert Island discs. Unfortunately I'm just an ordinary Joe so I'll have to be content with it being a favourite song. (Edited)
