‘Hallelujah’ the focus of new Cohen doc

Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah" pretty much flopped when it came out nearly 40 years ago.

Today, it enjoys cult status and has been performed by everyone from Bob Dylan to Jeff Buckley and Bon Jovi - even appearing in animated hit "Shrek" - in a unique evolution detailed in a new documentary film.

The tune rich in religious and erotic references by the Canadian poet, who died in 2016, has made the rounds.

In 2008, a gospel version of the song was performed by Alexandra Burke on the British TV talent show "The X Factor."
That year the song placed 1st, 2nd and 36th in the British music charts: The versions by Burke, Buckley and the original by Cohen himself.

"I do not know of any other song with that trajectory," said music journalist Alan Light, who wrote a book on the song called "The Holy or the Broken," published in 2012

"This song took 10 years, 20 years, going through all these different versions, around these different corners and then it gains this momentum. The snowball is rolling, and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger," Light told AFP.

He spoke in New York at a showing of the new documentary "Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song," for which was an adviser and producer.

The film shows that, at first, the work was destined for obscurity.

A practicing Jew who eventually retired to a Buddhist monastery, poet-turned-singer Cohen took years to write the spiritual and image-rich lines of the song, which evokes King David, his music and his temptations.
Cohen left out dozens of the verses he had written.

The Columbia record label refused to release "Various Positions," the LP that included "Hallelujah," in the United States. It did come out in Europe, among other the places.