So that X Factor bird and her management are banking on a Christmas number one with her cover of Leonard Cohens 'Hallelujah'. They are facing something of a backlash however with fans of real music going out and buying previous versions, with Jeff Buckleys climbing the charts very quickly indeed (midweek position number 3).
So the question looms: which version is your favourite?
Some of the most famous to have covered the song include Bob Dylan, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, Damien Rice, kdlang, Sheryl Crowe, U2, Bon Jovi *shudder*, John Cale, Imogen Heap and most recently Alexandra Burke.
There's a load out there. For me, you can't beat the original by Cohen. In no other version does it sound to me that the vocalist knows what they're singing about and that is important. With passion in lyrics comes soul in the sonics. No one but Cohen has the foggiest what the song is saying and I think that conveys itself when compared to the multitude of covers. Buckley, Wainwright, Cale and Rice have done very good covers with a lot of soul but it's Cohens for me all the way.
