Radical Christian Millennial
7. “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen
I’m in the small minority of people who actually prefers the original version of this song to Jeff Buckley’s still-beautiful cover. I remember my grandfather and I having an argument about this once, where he said that Buckley’s version had something that Cohen’s lacked. That might be true, I told him, but Cohen’s version also has something else that Buckley’s lacks.
Whichever version you prefer, Hallelujah uses Biblical imagery and motifs to sketch a glimpse of heartache and loss. Buckley famously said his rendition was “a hallelujah to the orgasm” but that same sense of sexuality is present in Cohen’s version as well (as is common for Cohen’s music).
Cohen’s version also contains the masterful final verse (absent in Buckley’s) that stands as my favorite affirmation of defiant faith even through feelings of powerlessness and grief: “I did my best, it wasn’t much. I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch. I told the truth, but I didn’t come to fool ya. And even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand before the Lord of Song, with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.”
6. “Tourniquet” by Evanescence
This song is actually a cover of a song called “My Tourniquet” by the Christian death metal band Soul Embraced (their drummer was also the drummer for Evanescence). I prefer Evanescence’s version not just for the clean vocals (sung beautifully, as always, by Amy Lee) but also the sharper, crisp production.
The song tells of a suicide victim’s second thoughts as they slip away, and their cry for mercy and forgiveness. Now, I don’t believe for a second that suicide winds you up in hell, or that it is a sin, or that hell even exists, but it is a powerful metaphor for the power Christ holds for those seeking redemption and a second chance. The idea of Christ as a “tourniquet,” which is a lifesaving medical device that is used to stop traumatic bleeding, is quite apt for anyone who’s found themselves looking to God for help in times of crisis.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In