“…When nighttime comes, I’ll scream a hallelujah!” It’s a sentiment loads of mothers can identify with, especially after the ordeal of Christmas holidays.
Shannon Abbott, a US mother, has done a “Mummy’s rendition” of the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah, and it’s really striking a chord.
Abbott’s version has all the angst of Jeff Buckley’s, only where Buckley’s was “a hallelujah to the orgasm” (I never knew that), Abbott’s is a hallelujah to the moment she is able to grab some peace and maybe even get some sleep.
She rewrote the lyrics to reflect her worship of this joyous moment, which I think Leonard Cohen would have approved of, considering he apparently wrote about 80 different draft verses of the song and in one writing session was reduced to sitting in his underwear banging his head on the floor.
Much like a mother with a child who doesn’t want to sleep. Or the child for no reason even.
“It’s 3am, and you’re wide awake/ Baby go to bed, for heaven’s sake! Mama’s going to be a zombie in the morning, yet Daddy’s asleep without a care/How does he do that, it isn’t fair!” sings Abbott.
It helps that she’s got an absolutely stunning voice, too. Get some sleep Shannon!
