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J. Mackenzie Nida

Nathan Hellmers

English 1201

4-5-2020

Hallelujah

"Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley and "Hallelujah" by Pentatonix use the same set of

lyrics to convey two different messages. Jeff Buckley's version was raw and unfiltered,

showing his true feelings while he sang the song. The Pentatonix version was more

focused on the quality of the music rather than the meaning of the words. The song is

very common and well known. Over the years its popularity has slowly grown and has

been covered by multiple different artists. “Hallelujah'' by Jeff Buckley and “Hallelujah”

by Pentatonix both share a similar claim; however, Jeff Buckley manages to add more

meaning into his song and music video.

“Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley starts with just the electric guitar softly strumming.

The first minute of the song is just instrumental which helps put into perspective the

seriousness of the song. When Jeff Buckley starts singing it's very soft. He creates a

very somber mood. The constant stream of the guitar helps people realize the

seriousness in the mood of the song. The author uses the rhetorical device of ethos and

logos to appeal to the ethics and logic of the listeners. The lyrics of the song start with

an allusion to King Davids’s story in the bible which he relates to his own relationship.

King David saw Bathsheba on a roof and was determined to have her, he would stop at

nothing. Jeff Buckley was also consumed by a relationship that helped him write this
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song. By connecting the two, he uses ethos to better impact his audience. The author's

use of ethos is extremely influential because most people know the stories from the

bible so they can relate and connect to his song better. The author found a way to

connect both his story and the emotions of his audience to allow his lyrics to hold more

meaning, sympathy, and respect. The author uses logos by knowing that his audience

would listen and enjoy his song but also adding lyrics to make them think about the

song and its meaning. Throughout his song, He includes little musical hints. “The fourth,

the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift” helps some appeal to those who understand

how music is written. Jeff Buckley uses allusions, metaphors, ethos, and logos to

convey his message and the meaning of his song.

"Hallelujah" by Pentatonix creates a powerful rendition of the original song and

manages to change the meaning from the original version. The song starts off very

peaceful and calm. Pentatonix uses the rhetorical device of ethos and logos to appeal to

its audience and convey the meaning of the song. Their harmony changes this song

from peaceful to inspiring. In this version of the song, they take out a few lyrics to

change the overall meaning of the song. “Love is not a victory march” and “all I ever

really learned from love is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you” both add a

negative message to the lyrics and by taking them out of the song it eliminates the

negativity and changes the overall meaning. The song was now more focused on love

and less on the bad things that could happen. Pathos was used by making the song

acapella contrary to its original version. By making it acapella, it added more emotion

into the song. Pentatonix's appeal to logos was very creditable. They performed many
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covers of other songs making them well known which helped improve their impact on

others. The artists focused on the song and the quality of the music rather than the

meaning behind the words. Pentatonix worked together to create an inspiring version of

the song “Hallelujah”.

Both versions of the song Hallelujah greatly impacted its audience and with the

help of rhetoric appeals, each song has a deeper meaning. Jeff Buckley’s audience was

geared towards Christians, music writers, and people in relationships. With the use of

his biblical allusions, musical hints, and analogies towards relationships, he created a

precise audience. On the other hand, Pentatonix’s audience was everyone. They went

to great lengths to change the song into a carefree inspiring song that anyone could

relate to. The relationship between the two songs is very close. Both versions of the

song were written to send a message. The songs did have some similar meanings and

both used pathos and ethos. The song hallelujah was portrayed in a good way with

each song even though they had a few differences. Each version plays into the artist’s

strengths and helps build an already powerful song into something even greater.

“Hallelujah” is a deep meaningful song that artists have used to write a message

for others to see. Each version has so many things that are different, whether it is the

audience, meaning, or use of rhetorical appeals. Jeff Buckley's version let everything he

was thinking become visible and had an unfiltered effect. The Pentatonix version was

more focused on the quality and sound of the song rather than its overall meaning. Both

versions greatly impacted their audience and connected to them on a personal level.
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Works Cited

Buckey, Jeff. “Hallelujah”. Youtube, October 25, 2009

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AWFf7EAc4​. Accessed April 2,2020

Pentatonix. “Hallelujah”. Youtube, October 21, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRP8d7hhpoQ​. Accessed April 2, 2020