September 19th, 2006

Filed under:
Movies, Music
34 Comments »

Gordon Downie Sings Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’

I frequently see Saint Ralph on the crappy movie channels that come with my cable package. It’s an incredibly sentimental Canadian film about a 14-year-old who tries to win the Boston marathon. During the climactic race, the soundtrack features Gordon Downie (the lead singer of the Tragically Hip) singing a pretty gorgeous version of Leonard Cohen’s seminal “Hallelujah’”.

Ever since hearing Downie’s version, I’ve been looking for the song online. I eventually got it from Mike, who explains:

There seemed to be only one way to get this version of the song in MP3 and that’s to create an MP3 from the audio output of “Saint Ralph”. Sophie, a Hip fan from Germany, saw my comment on the site sharing the Downie covers and offerred to help. She rented the DVD, created an MP3 and emailed it to me early this morning. Hallelujah!

This will tide me over nicely until Downie releases something official. I know a lot of people have been trying to locate this song as I’ve heard your empathetic pleas since I first wrote about the cover last August. If that’s you, leave a comment and I’ll email you the MP3 Sophie shared with me this morning.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of film audio over the track, but it’s worth a listen. Hopefully they’ll eventually release it for sale:

I think Downie’s version rivals the most famous cover of the song by the late Jeff Buckley. You can hear Buckley’s version, along with 33 others, on My Old Kentucky Blog.

Comments: 34 Responses so far

tye
September 19th, 2006
8:17 am

Interesting rendition of this song.

My favorite cover of “Hallelujah” is by KD Lang on “Hymns of the 49th Parallel” - the whole album is quite amazing.

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Chanelle
September 19th, 2006
1:43 pm

Really? I love that movie. I’ve been wanting to rent it so I can see it again, but unfortunately no video store near me has it.

What crappy movie channel do you see it on?

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darren
September 19th, 2006
1:52 pm

Chanelle: It’s on one of the Movie Central channels I get through my Novus TV package.

If you watch a lot of rented DVDs, you should give Zip.ca a try. I see that they have Saint Ralph. I’ve been meaning to blog about the service for a couple of weeks, but so far so good.

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Phillip
September 19th, 2006
2:28 pm

Zip.ca is excellent. I still rent from my local independent video store when I can, but at Zip.ca I can pretty much get any DVD I can think of. Including Saint Ralph which, although a bit on the sendimental side, is a great Canadian movie. I saw an advanced screening of it in Halifax, and I could hear everyone sniffling after the marathon scene. It was Gord Downie singing “Hallelujah” that clinched it. It worked perfectly.

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JohnB
September 20th, 2006
11:10 am

rye:

Absolutely! In fact, the entire kd lang album is beautiful.

No one, of course, does it better than Cohen himself. I have it on “The Essential Leonard Cohen” which also includes “Democracy”.

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Fiona
September 22nd, 2006
9:33 pm

At last! Thanks so much for sharing this link. I’ve been looking for this track ever since I saw the movie, and even contacted the studios to ask about releasing the soundtrack. Precious few songs have ever made me cry, and hearing this track at the pivotal point of the film was one of those moments. Although Downie’s version is absolutely gorgeous, I think we have to credit Cohen too for the simple yet powerful lyrics. Cheers to all.

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Allen Langdon
September 25th, 2006
7:10 pm

Darren:

The best version of hallelujah is by Rufus Wainwright from the Shrek soundtrack. John Cale sang it in the movie but for some reason they substituted it with this even better version on the soundtrack. Jeff Buckley’s version is a close second.

Saitn Ralph isn’t actually too bad either. I don’t know if I creid, but the ending clearly makes the movie …

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andrei
October 24th, 2006
3:37 pm

i want thesong..please e-mail it to me

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Mike
November 4th, 2006
9:19 pm

Thanks for the link to Hallelujah. I saw Saint Ralph, which I thought was very good, and was really moved by this song. This honestly is the first song I’ve ever searched for to download. Now I want to hear more from both Cohen and Downie.

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gretchen
November 19th, 2006
6:38 pm

I can’t believe you have this song. I’ve wasted so much time this last week in a mad hunt for it. I adored the film, it possibly rivals good will hunting. I’m not sure yet.

Thank you so much though. I’m making a documentary and I was wanting this song so badly for the end. Hopefully I can find a way to steal it.

hallelujah, then, i suppose.

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Bernie
November 21st, 2006
6:42 pm

I agree with all above!!! what a song, It is something you feel more than hear!

And then I saw a commercial for ER tv show what bastards… brad pits ex ..with this song… ugghhh

Bernie

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Tim
December 9th, 2006
8:48 pm

I have never been moved by a film or song to the point of trying to find it online. Thanks

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David Stephen
December 19th, 2006
9:40 pm

Ever since seeing the film St Ralph, I have been searching for the Gord Downie version of Hallelujah. It was the first time I heard the song. I have listened to a number of other version. It seems to be a song that gets to me emotionally by any performer, but none moved me the way the film version did. I can’t believe how hard I have looked to try and find this song! Thank you

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Bill
December 28th, 2006
10:53 am

Thank you Sophie, Mike and Darren…Just watched this movie today and think Gord Downie’s version of this Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah is the best I’ve ever heard. I hope he will record this at some point. Thanks for sharing your website and this song.

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Bl.
January 7th, 2007
12:21 am

I didn’t know this Gordon Downie ’s version. It’s interesting. Thanks for discovering this song…

Hallelujah, a song with a very lot of different versions : Leonard Cohen of course, Rufus Wainwright, John Cale, Bono and my prefered Jeff Buckley !

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phil
February 6th, 2007
8:24 pm

Would like a copy of the mp3 if still available. My favorite so far is the Rufus Wainwright version…

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Mike
February 12th, 2007
8:23 am

Just to update everyone, there’s been a new development in my Hallelujah hunt.

Catch up here.

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melissa goff
February 18th, 2007
11:54 am

thanks for what ever you can send me in the way of the music hallelujah by gord downie

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katie
March 31st, 2007
6:47 pm

I loved this movie and the song blew me away! I tried to link on the above link and the page is blank. I need this song! I love Gord Downie his version of this song is beautiful…please help!

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Kenny
April 18th, 2007
2:54 pm

I really love the movie it was amazing. When I first saw it on Tv I thought that I would be really bad. But i really love it. The song was amazing. I also tried to find it but no luck at all.

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peter
April 30th, 2007
3:15 pm

We found them movie on cable.Loved the the song and here we are.
thanks again for the download.

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Kim
June 1st, 2007
6:03 pm

I have been looking for this song since we saw the movie at the Toronto Film Festival years ago. Thank you so much!

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Assaf
August 29th, 2007
1:05 pm

Wonderful to find this. Please send the file if still available. Thanks!

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Molly
January 5th, 2008
1:38 pm

Please forward Gord Downie’s version if still available. Thanks.

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Jonathan McCoy
January 28th, 2008
7:48 pm

I saw the movie earlier and I wouldn’t usually watch something like that, but I thought it was a great movie. I almost cried too. I searched the song all day, listened to several other versions and you are right, Downie’s is gorgeous. I’d love a copy. Thanks alot for being there for us.

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rita rehak
January 29th, 2008
3:40 am

I WOULD LOVE A COPY TOTALLY AWESOME COURAGEOUS

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Thomas Onda
February 3rd, 2008
10:50 pm

Hey Darren -

I came across your posting re the song Hallelujah from Saint Ralph while searching for it on the internet. Do you know how I can make a copy of it, preferably in my iTunes library?

Thanks so much. Glad I found your site!

Tom

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ernesto
February 18th, 2008
7:25 am

can you share with me the mp3 song ” hallelujah” that Sophie shared whit you? thank

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christine trevino
March 6th, 2008
7:06 pm

please email me the mp3 of Hallelujah by Gordon Downie
I have been trying to find it for years.

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zama mthethwa
April 17th, 2008
3:14 pm

Hi Darren

We have been looking for the song in South Africa as well. If you could please email us to tmthethwa@yahoo.com and 201503676@UKZN.AC.ZA
Please keep the good work

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andy
June 5th, 2008
11:18 am

Can someone please email this song from Gordon Downie please!

Thank you!

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andy
June 5th, 2008
11:18 am

andywhitlock@mac.com

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Carl
June 29th, 2008
4:20 pm

I also been trying to find this song. I recently watched St.Ralph and was very moved by it. It is truly one of the movies that you must watch.

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Jennifer
July 18th, 2008
10:58 pm

I LOVE THIS SONG AND THE MOVIE ITS SO SAD

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