![]() ![]() “Thoughtful and illuminating… is a fine companion for this journey through one song’s changing fortunes.” “A charming ode to a pop music phenomenon…” A masterful work of critical journalism.” “Former Vibe and Spin editor Alan Light’s ( The Skills to Pay the Bills: The Story of the Beastie Boys) brisk, engrossing study of ‘Hallelujah’ comes on the heels of Sylvie Simmons’ definitive Cohen biography, but this book is brilliantly revelatory on its own. Given the song’s powerful essence, its ambiguities and its remarkable history, the story of “Hallelujah” offers new and far-reaching possibilities for how we look at music. In the past 25 years it has been recorded and performed by hundreds of artists from Bono to Bon Jovi, Justin Timberlake to Celine Dion, Willie Nelson to Susan Boyle, been placed on various lists of the best songs of all time, and served as a national balm after 9/11. First picked up by former Velevet Underground member John Cale, the song reached a haunting apotheosis with Jeff Buckley’s classic, melancholy version. Looking at the history and impact of “Hallelujah” via extensive interviews and critical analysis, THE HOLY OR THE BROKEN is a biography of a song – its creation, its interpretation, its fixed and changing messages over time. ![]() ![]() When Leonard Cohen first recorded “Hallelujah” in 1984, he had no idea the song would become one of the most loved, most performed, and most misunderstood compositions of its time. The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah” by Alan Light (Atria/Simon and Schuster) ![]()
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March 2023
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