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The Meaning of Hallelujah - Cultural Analysis


            Music is by far one of most, if not the most, powerful medium when it comes to conveying an idea, sharing a story, or simply humanizing a piece of work. Take Johnny Cash for example, as his life was coming to an end Cash decided to record one more record which featured a cover of "Hurt" originally recorded by Nine Inch Nail's Trent Reznor in 1994. At the time of Hurt's original release Reznor was dealing with a long time heroin abuse problem, which is the overall meaning of his version "Hurt," and by listening to his song one can feel his pain and struggle. It's truly amazing how much emotion Trent was able to put into his song and most believed no one could top it, but then came .
             Johnny Cash. Cash single handedly took Reznor's song and made it his own. "I pop the video in, and wow Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore," Trent Reznor explained when he first watched Johnny Cash's music video of "Hurt"[1] . This is just one of the examples of how powerful music is as a medium, and how emotion and humanizing a piece of work can completely alter its intended meaning. Throughout time countless artists have attempted to put their own spin on someone elses song, some more successful than others, most notably Jeff Buckley's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah.".
             In 1994 Jeff Buckley released his only complete album titled "Grace." This record featured his wildly popular cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. However, Jeff Buckley isn't the only artist to put their own spin on Cohen's original 1984 version. Throughout the years countless artists have covered this famous song, but why? Hallelujah is an old religious word used to express praise, joy, or thanks especially to God, but I believe we use 'hallelujah' much differently in today's society. Hallelujah is used in many ways to describe hope, love, emotion, and obviously God.


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