A Celebration of Hallelujah Soundtracks | Saint Ralph (updated Jan 2015)

Battle: Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

The Voice Kids 2014 | jeff buckley

Saint Ralph Movie Summary

Saint Ralph is a 2004 Canadian drama film written and directed by Michael McGowan. Its central character is a teenaged boy who trains for the 1954 Boston Marathon in the hope a victory will be the miracle his mother needs to awaken from a coma. The film premiered at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival and was given a theatrical release in 2005. This fictional story centers on Ralph Walker, a teenager attending a Catholic private school. His father was killed in World War II and his mother is hospitalized with an unidentified illness. Ralph is naturally prone to mischief and often finds himself an outcast among his classmates. Labeled a troublemaker, Ralph is forced to join the school's cross country team to relieve him of his excess energy, but when Ralph's mother falls into a coma, he is told it will take a miracle for her to survive. Then running coach Father Hibbert, a former world class marathoner who was forced to quit running when he injured his knee, claims it would be a miracle if a member of his team won the Boston Marathon, Ralph begins training in earnest....

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Movie & Song Review

The film, St. Ralph, must be one of the ultimate runner films next to "Chariots of Fire". The climax was beyond words when intemixed with the Hallelujah song and I could only have wished that the writers had written less of the sexual lusts of Ralph's adolescence and focused more on his broken and unhappy family life as a lost, fatherless, boy in a closed society of Catholic families and friends.

Since Gordon Downie's version of "Hallelujah" has not been released I thought I'd compare "YouTube's" renditions of the Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah soundtrack. I found that I best liked the singers ranked below. Overall, I thought Kate Voegele's was superb. She had great spot-on tone and texture; the kids were excellent runner-ups to Kate's rendition; then Allison Crowe, Lee DeWyze and Alexandra Burke; and finally, the maestro himself, Leonard Cohen. Please enjoy my picks until Downie's original version someday becomes available (see Toronto_Mike's blog at end of this blog for the latest info).

R.E. Slater
July 3, 2009

*addendum - my fav no. 2 pick must be "3 girls sing Hallelujah" found at the end of this posting.

**Tied with the girls (if not a shade better) is the stirring heart-and-soul rendition by a Jewish youth group found immediately after the "three girls" video as well as on my other website Relevancy22. - הללויה להקת חינוך - Hallelujah. Enjoy.

Saint Ralph Movie Trailer



(spoiler alert) The following movie clip contains the ending to the movie (spoiler alert)

Gord Downie "Hallelujah"

written by Lenoard Cohen

from the movie "Saint Ralph" (2004)

Saint Ralph - Boston Marathon Finale

Wikipedia Comments - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Ralph

Kate Voegele

(Kate's rendition is my no. 1 favorite)

Davidchoimusic




Allison Crowe live performance




Lee DeWyze (American Idol)




Alexandra Burke
(fav no. 3)




Leonard Cohen -  by the Maestro himself

Composer, Orchestrator, Lyricist of Hallelujah

in Original Concert

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Gordon Downie Sings Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’

http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2006/09/gordon-downie-sings-cohens-hallelujah.html

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:

• DOWNLOAD THE SONG HERE: Gordon Downie – Hallelujah (MP3, 3 MB, 3:18)

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.

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A Blog dedicated to finding GordDownie's Hallelujah

http://www.torontomike.com/gord_downies_hallelujah/

Gord Downie's Hallelujah

Talking to Gord Downie About Hallelujah
Published by Toronto Mike on June 23, 2011 @ 15:17 in Gord Downie's Hallelujah

I've got an entire category committed to Gord Downie's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Gord recorded the song for the movie Saint Ralph, but it's never been officially released. I've got a copy, however, and that led to this comment from Nik.

I ran into Gord Downie in Toronto in summer of 2005. My friends and I walked past as he stood in the entryway of a cathedral on Bloor. I said aloud "Hey, that was Gord Downie. Lets say hi". While the others were hesitant, I had a question I wanted to ask him: where can I get a copy of your cover of Hallelujah from Saint Ralph? (I had just seen the film 2 weeks before at the Review Cinema) He was very approachable but was not pleased when I told him that I had exhausted my search for the soundtrack and had come up empty. He said he was told that there would be a soundtrack. I told him it was the best version of the song I had ever heard. He replied, to my surprise, that he had never actually heard the original before he recorded it himself. I suggested he put the track on his next solo project but he said he'd look into the Saint Ralph soundtrack first, thanked me for bringing this to his attention and shook our hands. He's had 3 solo albums since...

I've wanted to ask Gord about this song for a while now, and Nik's comment was quite revealing. I wonder why "Hallelujah" has yet to see the light of day?

Addendum

As seen on Godvine.com -

Three Girls Sing a BEAUTIFUL Version of Hallelujah

[tied as my fav no. 2 with the Jewish Educational Band below]

[this is not a video but a picture of the 3 girls]

Whatever the language,

wherever the tongue,

Hallelujah,

Hallelujah

הללויה להקת חינוך

[Hallelujah Corps Education]

LEONARD COHEN LYRICS

"Hallelujah"

I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Revelation 19

English Standard Version (ESV)

Rejoicing in Heaven

19 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,

“Hallelujah!

Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

²     for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
    who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”^[a]

³ Once more they cried out,

“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

⁴ And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” ⁵ And from the throne came a voice saying,

“Praise our God,
    all you his servants,
you who fear him,
    small and great.”

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

⁶ Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!

For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
⁷ Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
⁸ it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

⁹ And the angel said^[b] to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” ¹⁰ Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant^[c] with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The Rider on a White Horse

¹¹ Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. ¹² His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. ¹³ He is clothed in a robe dipped in^[d] blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. ¹⁴ And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. ¹⁵ From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. ¹⁶ On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

¹⁷ Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, ¹⁸ to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave,^[e] both small and great.” ¹⁹ And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. ²⁰ And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence^[f] had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. ²¹ And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.