Leonard Cohen has said that people have asked him for a moratorium on the usage of covers of his classic song, ‘Hallelujah’.
The track, from his 1984 album ‘Various Positions’, has been covered by a host of artists including the late Jeff Buckley, Bono, Willie Nelson, Rufus Wainwright, k.d. lang and The X Factor winner Alexandra Burke as well as being featured on a number of TV shows.
Of its popularity, Cohen told The Guardian: “There’s been a couple of times when other people have said can we have a moratorium please on ‘Hallelujah’? Must we have it at the end of every single drama and every single Idol? And once or twice I’ve felt maybe I should lend my voice to silencing it but on second thought no, I’m very happy that it’s being sung.”
In the piece, it was also revealed that Cohen hopes to play more shows and also to release another album, following this month’s ‘Old Ideas’, “in a year or so”.
When asked about his songwriting, Cohen said: “I don’t really like sings with ideas. They become slogans. They tend to be on the right side of things: ecology or vegetarianism or antiwar. All these are wonderful ideas but I like to work on a song until these slogans… dissolve into deeper convictions of the heart.”
Leonard Cohen releases ‘Old Ideas’ on January 30. The album is the legendary singer songwriter’s first new offering since 2004’s ‘Dear Heather’, and his 12th studio album since 1967.
