In the World

A cold and broken rewrite of "Hallelujah"

I'll admit it: I'm one of those people who, back in the 90s, learned Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah" and played it note for note without even realizing it was written by the great Leonard Cohen. Glad to say I'd moved on by the time The West Wing, Scrubs and !@#$% Shrek got hip to the song, but still: no excuse for that.

"Hallelujah," as noted by everyone ever, raises some profound—if unorthodox and at times cryptic—questions about faith. Pastors, when people visit your church and ask such questions, do you respond by rejecting the questions as unworthy and attempting to replace them wholesale with affirmative statements of good doctrine? If so, you'll love Marvin Olasky's new version of "Hallelujah."

If not, you could just listen to a different song from the same Cohen album, one I've used in worship without edits.

(Via Jessica Bluemke.)

Steve Thorngate

The Century managing editor is also a church musician and songwriter.

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