The Leonard Cohen song 'Hallelujah' took years to write, once had as many as 80 verses and was practically ignored when it first came out 34 years ago.
But Bob Dylan was a fan, and after John Cale - formerly of the Velvet Underground - recorded a cover version, a little-known musician called Jeff Buckley heard it.
Since then, 'Hallelujah' has been covered in many different languages by hundreds of artists including Willie Nelson. Bon Jovi, k.d. lang, and Justin Timberlake.
The BBC Radio 4 series Soul Music tells stories about the emotional impact of songs and is now into its 26th series.
The Hallelujah episode of Soul Music was produced by Sara Conkey.
Listen to an extract featuring James Talerico, music journalist Alan Light, and singer Brandi Carlisle.
Soul Music has told stories about well over 100 songs already so plenty more to listen to.
Richard Scott recently enjoyed episodes of Soul Music about the Billie Holiday song Strange Fruit, Kraftwerk's Computer World and Boys Don't Cry by The Cure.
