The Hallelujah Chorus

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

[Poll #1315469]

I enjoyed both the X-Factor finalists' versions a lot more than I was expecting to. What occurred to me is that the lyrics aren't really designed to be sung in a power-soul style, but that actually this left me feeling a bit embarassed for the lyrics themselves*, not the singing or performance.

*and of course someone - Simon Cowell's? - selection from them: "Hallelujah" has about 50 billion verses so like American Pie any shortened cover versh will be a selection box.

Comments

[sbp.livejournal.com]

selection box - which means he can leave out the r00d verses, e.g.

"And remember when I moved in you
the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah"

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I really liked Alex's second attempt at it, when she was blubbering away at the end. It meant that there wasn't as much prog warbling in the verses and more straight yelling at the end when all her mates came on stage to prop her up and she was like 'GO AWAY CAN YOU NOT SEE I AM BUSY SINGING HERE' - awesome.

[22by7.livejournal.com]

in high school i was partial to jeff buckley's. i appear to have grown out of that state.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

I like the John Cale. I wasn't sure about either version on the X-factor on the grounds that the song seems to me to specifically hesitate over the idea of a religious as opposed to a secular hallelujah, but all this big orchestra / choir nonsense sort of screams 'this is an important and holy song' whereas in fact it's basically about knobbing, or at least it is in the Cale reading, which wikipedia informs me is the starting point for most of the recent versions. I guess my point is that this is a song which appropriates religious imagery with the specific aim of not being a hymn - but it's now seen as a post-secular hymn which degrades (as far as I'm concerned) our understanding of both art and religion. So there. And who says I'm not fun to watch saturday night tv with.

[marnameow.livejournal.com]

The song is all about the filth, yes! And it's about the tension/disconnect between shagging and worship.

It's quite *positive* about it all, for L Cohen anyway, in that it sort of reconciles the two, but it's not some huge choral production about God and ting. I dislike versions of it where the Huge Towering Chorus overpower the verses, and I have beef with the way it seems to get played at Huge Emotional Moments on tv programmes.

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

Whilst Leonard's original is magnificent, the 'pop' versions - Buckley, Rufus Wainwright etc - are versions of John Cale's excellent cover. Cale still does it best.

We'll take a bit of this and that

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

If only...

[marnameow.livejournal.com]

Specifically, the version of Hallelujah that L Cohen is singing now, rather than the versions on Cohen Live or Various Positions.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I like the Cohen and Buckley versions - the veneration of them annoys me slightly, but it's still a strongly crafted song. It's a lot more dependent on the arrangement than the vocalist - as long as they're competent, different voices can do really well with it, but it needs a reasonably spartan arrangement (if it's being played straight*) - I thought Alexandra's take on it was pretty good until the gospel choirs and slatherings of strings started overegging it completely. (I think this was the downfall of the Rufus Wainwright version too - not cheesy strings obv, but just going a bit too overboard with the rococo piano ornamentation.)

I don't think I have a favourite version - there's one by Kathryn Williams which is nice I guess. Will tick Alexandra as I feel quite kindly towards her at the minute.

*b/c obv a full-on house version, complete with big-lunged diva belting out the lyrics, would be amazing.

[andthatisthat.livejournal.com]

I thought Alexandra's take on it was pretty good until the gospel choirs and slatherings of strings started overegging it completely.

Yep, that's exactly how I felt about it. Stupid Simon Cowell ruins everything.

Kathryn Williams

[boof-boy.livejournal.com]

It has to be Kathryn.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

NB: who is John Cale?

[koganbot]

An original member of the Velvet Underground who then went on to a solo career.

how about bon jovi

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

dirty hymnal

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

uncontroversial fact: ALL religious songs are about knobbing

Re: dirty hymnal

[offensive-mango.livejournal.com]

Surely not "Jesus Loves The Little Children"!

Re: dirty hymnal

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

don't you mean incontrivertible?

[offensive-mango.livejournal.com]

I like Susanna And The Magical Orchestra's version.

[koganbot]

You all should read Mike Barthel's excellent piece about "Hallelujah":

"It Doesn't Matter Which You Heard": the Curious Cultural Journey of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"

What's fascinating about all this is not simply the song's ubiquity on TV dramas - it's that it's used in the exact same way every time. Songs can be used sincerely, ironically, as background shading, as subtle comment, as product placement. But "Hallelujah" always appears as people are being sad, quietly sitting and staring into space or ostentatiously crying, and always as a way of tying together the sadness of different characters in different places. In short, it's always used as part of a "sad montage."

(Mike's piece also contains excellent graphs.)

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

ha, any time hallelujah pops up ANYWHERE i think about Mike!

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

(Wainwright's is nearly indistinguishable from Cale's, suggesting that perhaps Cale had begun to refuse usage requests and Wainwright was brought in as a ringer.)

The interesting thing about this is that it predates the OC and Scrubs surge - while it's Cale on the soundtrack to Shrek, it's Wainwright on the soundtrack album.

[whalefish.livejournal.com]

I think the door is open for a Cascada cover now.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

That might be enough to change my vote from "rly don't like any"

[ijgrieve.livejournal.com]

+1

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

The best version is by BON JOVI, so there.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

The version I saw him do live in June. Which is cheating, I guess, but I'd never experienced anything like that moment in that concert hall - and also the song is so over-exposed I could happily never hear it again otherwise.

[datura800.livejournal.com]

I am dumbfounded that they added a KEY CHANGE. Talk about patronising your audience.

[andthatisthat.livejournal.com]

I dunno, the fact that they add key changes to literally every song regardless of whether it's appropriate/necessary or not is one of the things I love about The X Factor. Plus, nothing will ever be as absurd as the key change in Paul Potts' version of 'Ave Maria'.

[mostlyconnect.livejournal.com]

o man! I think this is the single topic cis and I have discussed most?

My favourite is the k.d. lang version.