Hallelujah

Album: We Are Tonight (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This Shy Carter, Brad Warren and Brett Warren penned song was a last minute addition to We Are Tonight. Currington explained: "I have ten songs on there, and they're all, to me, happy songs. Back when we were recording the album, I had one that was kind of a sad song, a broken-heart song, and listening to the album, that was the one thing that threw me off, personally, about the album. I couldn't get through the rest of it after I heard that one sad song. It just didn't fit for me. So, I ejected that song and added 'Hallelujah' to it which made for ten happy songs. And now I have a peace and a sense of happiness when I listen to the whole project, and I'm hoping everyone that hears it walks away with the same feelings."
  • The song was produced by Shy Carter, who has collaborated with Nelly, Ashanti and Rob Thomas (he also co-wrote Sugarland's #1 Country hit "Stuck Like Glue"). The pair originally met after Carter moved into Currington's Nashville attic apartment. They stayed in touch and the singer decided to pay a visit to the producer in Los Angeles, where they wound up recording this quirky, upbeat love song. "Shy started laying down the beat and we started putting some guitars to it and by six o'clock the next morning we were done with the song," Currington related. "I put it at the end of the album because I thought the energy in the song and everything about it would be perfect to end the record."
  • Billy Currington and Shy Carter used an empty Apple computer box that was lying in the studio as inspiration when the singer needed one more song to complete We Are Tonight. "He was like, 'How's your album coming along?' and I was like, 'Man, I've got nine songs complete that I love but I'm missing one song,'" Currington recalled to Country Weekly. "He was like, 'Remember that song 'Hallelujah'? Let's record that right now.'"

    "We grabbed that box and started setting the beat down, setting the groove with the box, and then went behind it and added some more beats, started singing, just built it from there," the singer continued. "By about 4 o'clock in the morning we were done with 'Hallelujah' and I was like, 'Man, that's it, that's what I was looking for, right there. I turned it in with the rest of the project the next week and had a complete album, 10 songs."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Real or Spinal Tap

Real or Spinal TapMusic Quiz

They sang about pink torpedoes and rocking you tonight tonight, but some real lyrics are just as ridiculous. See if you can tell which lyrics are real and which are Spinal Tap in this lyrics quiz.

Randy Newman

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."

Trucking Songs That Were #1 Hits

Trucking Songs That Were #1 HitsSong Writing

The stories behind the biggest hit songs about trucking.

Rock Stars of Horror

Rock Stars of HorrorMusic Quiz

Rock Stars - especially those in the metal realm - are often enlisted for horror movies. See if you know can match the rocker to the role.

Joe Ely

Joe ElySongwriter Interviews

The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"