What's in a song?

It's amazing how individual songs and their respective covers can have such different meanings and evoke such a variety of feelings depending upon the artist, venue, and life context of the listener.

I hate to get all schlocky about this, but Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is certainly one such song for me.

I must admit that the first version I heard was Jeff Buckley's haunting interpretation on his album "Grace." It was certainly the most beautiful song on that album and continues to be one of my favorites.

When I finally did hear Cohen's original, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it somehow did not spark the same emotional response. And though I love Rufus Wainwright, his all-too-speedy, flippant cover of such an amazing tune was extremely ill-advised.

Having recently undergone a substantial move (from Minneapolis to Washington, D.C.), I was happy to spend my first Saturday night in the District listening to a friend of a friend play some respectable coffee house music at Murky Coffee. He was followed by a similarly respectable performer, who I was content to listen to while gazing out the window or talking with my friend and her brother.

Then - the performer, Sam Kim, muttered something about doing a "cover of a cover" and proceeded to knock me cold with a cover of Jeff Buckley's cover of Hallelujah. Welcome to D.C., Sarah.