Best Cover of Hallelujah – EVER

from jeffbuckley.com

I’m crying now.  I’m crying because I didn’t know until just moments ago, that Jeff Buckley died in 1997.  What the?  He died 15 years ago?!? And what do you mean you don’t know who Jeff Buckley is?   Well, Jeff Buckley has the title of this blog post – that’s who he is.  The best cover of Leonard Cohen’s  Hallelujah EVER.  The first time I heard his version was on an episode of The West Wing
in 2002.  It was so freaking beautiful and affecting that I found
myself reaching blindly for David’s hand as I started to sob uncontrollably.  This morning, I was all excited to learn more about him and he’s freaking dead!  Had he lived, he’d be 2 years older than I am now.

I’m crying because I was so happy to be reminded of how brilliant he is and only just now found out that I should be saying was.   I was completely clueless that he had already shuffled off this mortal coil.  I’m crying because he’ll never record another song and that sucks like a freaking black hole.  I feel cut off at the knees.

Those ‘hit you upside the head’ emotions…  Most of the time you cover them up, push them down… you don’t delve.  It’s too painful.  Go ahead,  brand me a ‘sensitive soul.’ I freely admit it.  Tears coat my throat if I really think about John Lennon when I hear Imagine on the radio.  I get overcome by the song and then I remember that he’s dead and if I
don’t fill my chest with ice, it’s as if I just heard that he was
shot.

Eva Cassidy’s cover of Over the Rainbow can send me off the deep end. When Brandon Lee died – I remember feeling devastated.  And you’re probably thinking to yourself, Brandon Lee?  What the…?  Like Bruce Lee’s kid?  Yep.  Bruce Lee’s kid.  And I don’t know why it hurt.  Maybe because he was young and had a life of promise.   I could see it there… just there… just beyond The Crow and then… nothing.  Dead.

So this morning I honour Jeff Buckley.  Those of you who haven’t experienced him, listen to the song yourself.  I defy you not to be moved.