History
The song was written and composed while Once was in production. The film's director and screenwriter, John Carney, developed the script around songs which Hansard and Irglová had provided to him.[3] In the movie, the duo play the song in the Waltons Music shop across from the George's Street Arcade in Dublin,[4] with Hansard on guitar and Irglová on piano. The couple performed it at gigs in various European venues over the next two years.[5] Versions appeared in 2006 on two albums: The Cost, which Hansard's band The Frames recorded and released, and The Swell Season, an album on which Hansard and Irglová collaborated.[6]
According to the "First Showing" article:
After almost getting her acceptance speech skipped and almost not getting to say a word for her acceptance at the 2008 ceremony after their Oscar win, Irglova made a speech about the song in which at the end of the speech she says, "This song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are..."[7]
Cover versions
"Falling Slowly" appears on the original cast album of the stage adaptation of Once, performed by Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti; this album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.[14]
It has been covered by synthpop group Joy Electric on their 2009 covers album, Favorites at Play.[15]
In Season 1 of "The Voice" duo Elenowen sang Falling Slowly for their Blind Audition
In season 8 of American Idol, Kris Allen covered the song during a night titled "Songs from the Cinema".
Derek Webb recorded a cover of the song on his democratically selected cover album Democracy, Vol. 2.[16]
The song also has been covered by the operatic pop group Il Divo on their album Wicked Game as a Spanish rendition, as “Falling Slowly (Te Prometo)”.[17]
It is covered it on Celtic Thunder's Voyage album in 2012.[18]
Josh Groban covered it on his 2013 album All That Echoes, and sang with Idina Menzel in 2018.[19]
Louise Dearman and Shayne Ward released a version on 17 February 2014.[20]
Australians Kate Ceberano and David Campbell released a version on 17 December 2014.[21]
English boy band Collabro covered the song on the special edition of their Stars album on 15 August 2014.[22]
Welsh singer John Owen-Jones featured the song on his most recent album, Rise, released in March 2015.[23]
In April 2015, as a one-time promotional event for the Toronto stage production of Once, Mirvish Productions invited local guitarists to perform the song with the cast. Producers predicted about a hundred participants; ultimately 926 guitarists performed in the event.[24]
The song was covered by husband and wife duo, actors Nathan West (who performs under the name East of Eli) and Chyler Leigh, who released the song, under the name "Westleigh", to their production studio, Modern Machine's SoundCloud.[25][26]
It has also been covered by member of K-pop group Exo, Park Chanyeol, on his Instagram account a couple of times.
In season 13 of The Voice, the song is covered by Addison Agen and Adam Levine.
During The Yogscast 2017 Christmas charity live streams, husband and wife duo Alex and Briony Turner covered the song.[27]
The song is covered in Season 2, Episode 6 of Good Trouble, "Twenty-Fine", by cast members Emma Hunton and Josh Pence.
Jung Yonghwa from CNBLUE covered the song several times, on the reality show We Got Married with his virtual wife Seohyun from SNSD, the KBS2 variety show Win Win, MBC Radio Star, SBS Strong Heart, KBS Star Golden Bell, the Beautiful Morning with KCW Radio program, and on CNBLUE's One More Time arena tour in Hiroshima in 2013. Yonghwa stated that it is one of his favorite songs. Lea Michele and Darren Criss played the song multiple times as part of their setlist on their LMDC tour in 2018.
The song was covered as a duet by Minnesota artists Joe Vitullo and Adrianne Prettyman on the album "Got It Covered" released in 2022.[28]
