Adam writes…This morning I have been listening to the BBC Radio 4 show Soul Music focusing on songs that make us cry. Here's the intro to the programme from the BBC website on the episode featuring Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah…
"There's an
extraordinary, universal spiritual feeling behind the song," says Maureen
Kendler, a teaching fellow, before offering a fascinating analysis of this
much-covered 1984 Leonard Cohen song, which has the unusual capacity to make
people cry tears of sorrow and joy. "When I sing Hallelujah I just go
inside," says country singer Brandi Carlile. "You can't really preach
that song, because when people are singing it, they're singing it for
themselves."
A music fan, James Talerico, then explains how the Jeff Buckley version (below) soundtracked a move in his life from loneliness to love, and a writer called Jim Kullander recalls using Hallelujah to help him come to terms with the death of his wife. "This song just embraces the whole mess of what love is," he says. "Love just shatters you - breaks you apart - and that's not a bad thing."
Listen to the full show at the BBC website here: www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles
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