Music

Haleliwia

If you're going to buy any rendition of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah this year, ignore the mainstream.

Rather than pick a version with the same verses Jeff Buckley selected, how about something new? How about something with a little more guts, a little more Christmas, a little more passion and a little more Welsh?

Try Brigyn's version. Here's a translation of the first verse:

The White Star in a fist of steel,
There's a shadow of a gun over Bethlehem,
No white angel singing "Hallelujah".
Raising the walls, closing the doors,
Turning their backs on the value of the miracle,
The night's so dark on the streets of Palestine.

They'll shift less than 1% of the units Alexandra Burke does, but deserve to be alongside her, Cohen and Buckley in the charts on Sunday.