Hallelujah chorus: time to lay down a generation challenge?

I can’t help smiling at the news that there are likely to be three separate versions of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah in the charts shortly, including two in the top three:

  • The Alexandra Burke version, the X Factor winner’s single (likely to be No 1)
  • The Jeff Buckley version, the one that people my age think is the best version (likely to be No 3)
  • The original Leonard Cohen version, which I still stay loyal to (likely to be No 30 or so)

Three versions of the same song in the charts, twenty-four years after the original was released. Who’da thunk it?

Why was I smiling? Because an imp of mischief got to me. I began to wonder. Shall we use the web to make the Jeff Buckley version number 1? Against all odds? Wouldn’t it be a fitting posthumous tribute to a master musician? Wouldn’t it be more of a good thing for the songwriter? And wouldn’t it be a fun thing to try?

So. Are we up for it? Can we make the Jeff Buckley version number 1?

Incidentally, there have only been two instances where number 1 and number 2 were by the same artists (the Beatles in 1964 and Usher in 2004). There has never been an instance where No 1 and No 2 are the same song, by two different people. We have the chance to help make history while having some fun across different generations: I cannot imagine anyone buying both versions next week….

15 thoughts on “Hallelujah chorus: time to lay down a generation challenge?”

  1. Ensuring that one of the previous two versions of Hallelujah gets to number one is not impish mischief – it’s the duty of right-thinking people across the nation!

  2. You’re right, Dan, it was my mood that was impish, not the task at hand. So help me do it, propagate it on your site, tweet it, do whatever we need to do/

  3. Funny, I was thinking of hatching exactly the same scheme yesterday. I’ve just done my bit by buying both the Jeff Buckley () – no relation as far as I know – and Lenoard Cohen () versions.

  4. :-) and I think it’s fair to Alexandra as well, since people who “support” her will try and compete with the retarded hippie generation and push her sales up :-)

  7. I like your thinking. Quite interestingly, the same song by different artists have shared the number No 1 spot. “Answer Me” by Frankie Laine and David Whitfield, back in 1953.

  8. I also like the k d lang version. Quite amazing the number of covers there’s been in such a short while – though I guess Suzanne racked up similar numbers over the years?
    How’s stuff going?

  9. Kerry, do I have to do anything about the image ban?

    Nimmykins, thanks for the link, have joined, will buy another copy thru there.

    Matt, I wondered if that had ever happened, thanks for researching it and letting us know.

    Devangshu, nice to see you here. All is well. Apparently Unchained Melody holds the record for the maximum number of Top 10 versions. I think Yesterday holds the record for the maximum number of versions overall.

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