I maintain that this is the best cover of "Hallelujah". Click on this link to see other covers and what I said about it earlier. If you don't feel like clicking the link (because you don't care) these are the highlights (because I'm going to force you to look at it anyways).
- Was written using a compound duple meter in the C major chord and grows upon itself with each layered track.
- C is basic enough that anyone can hit that note without sounding awful.
- It was mirrored after waltz and gospel music styling's, resulting in a dance-able beat with a lot of passion.
- Cohen wrote so many verses for the song (over 80!) that it's easy to find a handful which you feel best represent your feelings and put together a cover that, while sounding generic to some, will still hold special meaning for you.
There are thousands of covers of this song because it's easy, gorgeous, and always a crowd favorite, but SafetySuit's cover may be the best simply because they are one of very few popular bands who seem to understand the absolute importance of placing their emotion into the music itself, rather than allowing their vocal inflection or lyrics to shoulder all the weight. The music is always there, it's always going to carry a song through to its end, but with musicology and composition being so important to me, I will fall in love with your music completely if you can put your emotions into the track's instrumentation. A slowly picked guitar that jumps into a frenzied riff in no time at all, a constantly jumping violin that seems to mimic an heartbeat quickening its pace, and a steady drum that solidly offers its support throughout make this cover amazing. Of course, vocal inflection still holds some importance, so when Brown chooses to scream "hallelujah" in a sort of desperate manner rather than offering up a softly sung and pretty line for people to sway along to, it's absolute perfection.
"Hallelujah" SafetySuit
-E
