Who recorded it first
Hallelujah
Not a Jeff Buckley original — a 1984 Leonard Cohen song
Almost everyone takes ‘Hallelujah’ for a Jeff Buckley original, but Buckley’s 1994 version is a cover — and not even a cover of the original. The song was written and first recorded by Leonard Cohen in 1984 on Various Positions. Cohen’s record went largely unnoticed; John Cale reworked it for piano in 1991, and Buckley learned the song from Cale’s version, not Cohen’s.
The record
Who recorded it first
Released Recorded June 1984; released December 1984 on the album Various Positions
Charted Did not chart; the album was initially rejected by Columbia in the US and the song was largely ignored on release
Hear Leonard Cohen's 1984 original, from Various Positions youtube.com · LeonardCohenVEVO — official channel, Sony Music Then compare Jeff Buckley’s 1994 recording from Grace — the hushed electric-guitar reading that became the version most listeners think of before Leonard Cohen’s own. www.youtube.com · Auto-generated upload on the “Jeff Buckley - Topic” channel; description carries “Provided to YouTube by Columbia/Legacy”, “℗ 1994 Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment” and a release date of 1994-08-23 — the Grace release date. Runtime 414s; MusicBrainz gives 413,000ms and 413,320ms for the Grace album recording (its 5.1 and Atmos entries of the same master) — a 1s difference. This cleanly excludes the live and outtake versions MusicBrainz also lists at 431s, 455s, 522s and 565s.How we traced it
The song was written by Leonard Cohen and first recorded by him in June 1984, released that December on Various Positions. Columbia rejected the album in the US, where an independent label put it out, and the song was largely ignored Wikipedia ↗.
In 1991 the Welsh musician John Cale recorded a stark piano version for the Cohen tribute album I’m Your Fan. Cohen faxed him some fifteen pages of verses; Cale chose a handful, and his arrangement — not Cohen’s original — became the template nearly every later cover follows.
Jeff Buckley recorded his version for Grace in 1994, having learned the song from Cale’s recording rather than Cohen’s. Buckley’s reading grew so beloved after his death in 1997 that many now take it for the original — a cover of a cover, mistaken for the source SecondHandSongs ↗.
SecondHandSongs — the original and every coverKnow more about the original — or think we’ve got it wrong? Add a source →
Fact-check
The attribution problem
This is a layered kind of misattribution: nothing about Buckley’s recording is wrong or fake, and it is arguably the most loved version of the song. The only error is believing he originated it — a 1994 cover, itself modelled on a 1991 cover, mistaken for the source.
‘It’s a Jeff Buckley song’
Buckley’s 1994 version is a cover. The song was written and first recorded a decade earlier, in 1984, by Leonard Cohen the history ↗.
Leonard Cohen, 1984
Cohen’s version, on Various Positions, was ignored on release — the album was rejected by Columbia in the US — which is exactly why a cover could later stand in for the source with nothing to displace.
John Cale, 1991
Cale’s stark piano rework for the tribute album I’m Your Fan became the template for later covers. Buckley took the song from Cale, not Cohen, so the version people call the original is one step further removed still.
Written and first recorded by Leonard Cohen in 1984, arranged into its now-standard shape by John Cale in 1991, and made famous — but not originated — by Jeff Buckley in 1994 the record ↗.
Who wrote it
Who wrote it
Written by Leonard Cohen — not Jeff Buckley
How we traced the writing
The song is credited to Leonard Cohen, who wrote it and recorded it first in 1984.
Jeff Buckley’s 1994 recording is so widely loved that it is often taken to be his own song — and his was itself modelled on John Cale’s cover, not Cohen’s original. Buckley sang it; Cohen wrote it.
The same page’s other story is the recording (above): Cohen released it first, and Buckley’s is the version that eclipsed it. He both wrote it and recorded it first.
Context
Why the cover ate the original
A cover eclipses its original most easily when the original never had its moment. Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ was ignored on release in 1984 — the album was even rejected by his US label — so there was no famous first version occupying the public’s memory of the song. When Jeff Buckley’s recording caught fire years later, it simply became the version, with nothing to displace.
The twist here is a second layer of remove. Buckley did not learn the song from Cohen at all, but from John Cale’s 1991 piano reworking. So the version most people take for the original is a cover of a cover — the writer’s own recording buried two steps down.
The three versions, in order
- Leonard Cohen writes ‘Hallelujah’ and records it first (1984, Various Positions); it is ignored.
- John Cale records a spare piano arrangement for the tribute album I’m Your Fan (1991).
- Jeff Buckley, working from Cale’s version, records his own for Grace (1994).
- Buckley dies in 1997; his recording grows into the beloved, definitive-seeming version.
- Cohen’s 1984 original recedes from public memory, and many assume the song is Buckley’s.
The version most people call the original is a cover of a cover — the writer’s own recording buried two steps down.