Hallelujah- Which is the best version?

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 11:38 PM

Bob's friend, Weebl.












(Sorry!)

~ Becky in Tucson
mother of Dan, the W&B fan...

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 08:49 PM

So... a lot of people on this thread are complete jerks(?)...is what it sounds like you're saying...

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 08:17 PM

Hi Kids: After I left PolyGram and went to work for C.M.S. Music, we had an expression, which was, "He likes it..." What that meant was that the guy who "liked it" was a complete jerk, but that he had the money to pay, didn't have any taste, but was willing to write the cheque. So who were we to stop him?

What I've learned from this thread is that a lot of people can't hear. This HELPS me in my own projects for it supports the theory of "The Long Tale" by Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of WIRED Magazine who purports that most music that is able to reach the marketplace will find it's niche. It may not be the "best" version, but it is a version that some people are willing to pay for. i.e. "They like it..." This makes me money...

Thanks...BR

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 07:10 PM

Apparently over 100 vocalists have covered the song.

I can't wait for Buckley's version to top Alexandra's in the charts!

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: paula t
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 07:04 PM

Sarah and Kathryn are a bit fed up because they have been singing it for a while, and now they think everyone will accuse them of copying the X Factor!

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 04:43 PM

I like the John Cale version and Leonard Cohen but the absolute worst has got to be Kathryn Jenkins on her album 'Sacred Arias'!! She sings it in operatic style rhyming Hallelujah with dooo yoooo!

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 04:37 PM

I wonder if Rolf Harris has done one with a wobble board...

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,santa
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 04:11 PM

Has anyone listened/compared Buddy Kaye and Jules Loman's Christmas Alphabet (published in 1954)? I reckon Leonard Cohen must have heard it and been influenced by the melody.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,Nicholas Waller
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 04:01 PM

And The Times gets involved (cover story, T2).

There's a useful section on the various versions and where you might have heard them (Shrek, the OC) and where to play it - for the Bono version, they suggest "in court, to Bono and a judge and jury".

I saw Nathalie Nahai (someone I want to call Nath Alien Ahai) do a rather effectively intimate version at The Old Down in Somerset a year or so ago. I don't think the YouTube version you can see online does much justice to the live impact.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Rasener
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 03:11 PM

Guest Bob, I am with you on that one.

Mind you, I still like the X Factor one very much.

Oh to have an open mind LOL :-)

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: evansakes
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 11:52 AM

Today's Guardian asks the same question...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/dec/18/popandrock-christmas

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 11:02 AM

Hi Kids: For me it's KD Lang, hands down. For Style, Class, Voice, Articulation, Emotion, and Delivery. It is a rendition that will be remembered. I see Leonard Cohen saying, "Thanks K.D.!" Buckley's is O.K., but not in the same league. Since K.D.'s video has been posted, I'll put up Buckley's for comparison...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqsW9x0Wk74&feature=related
He seems to be struggling with it, maybe some of you hear that as "emotion", not me. And, there are parts in there that make me cringe. I'll pass on Buckley...
BR

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,LDT
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 09:51 AM

Tell you a version I would have love to have heard....a Nirvana version..I bet they would have done it well. (And if they have done a version, can you give me the link?)

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 09:23 AM

Of course Bob Dylan doesn't actually sing that line, but he doesn't really need to.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 09:07 AM

Yes, I think Bob Dylan's take probably does. He makes it sound like some add-on verses to Like A Rolling Stone.
Yes, you really shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 08:39 AM

There's always Bob Dylan's version, which I reckon passes that acid test pretty well. Sort of "bloody but unbowed".

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 07:05 AM

As I only really knew Leonard Cohen's original and Simon Ritchie's, I just listened (or struggled through) a whole bunch of other Hallelujahs. I made the acid test "Does the performer actually understand: Love is not a victory march, it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah"?

John Cale, Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright probably do. I was mildly disappointed by k d lang, but maybe it was because she appeared to be performing in some sort of sleazy night club and pitched the performance accordingly. I'm so trying desperately to rid my mind of that execrable X-Factor clip. I'm quite sure that if you asked that "Alexandra" what the song was about all you'd get would be a blank stare.

My order of preference remains Cohen himself, and Simon Ritchie.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,Alex
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 05:40 AM

Simon Ritchie's amazing squeezebox version and very different to all the others.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 04:42 AM

Somehow or other I seem to have had the rare fortune to have got through most of my life without very once encountering Hallelujah - knowingly at any rate. The first time I knowingly encountered it was on Nick Cave's No More Shall We Part back in 2001, where Kate & Anna McGarrigle take their part in the heady mix. As part of that particular confection it was by no mean remarkable but made a certain sense on the merits of context alone as a passable Nick Cave song. I might add that my acquaintance with the album was casual rather than obsessive, which is to say, I did not sit down & scrutinise the CD cover. Then, all of a sudden, it seemed to be everywhere - radio, folk clubs, TV documentaries, and I'm thinking - all this fuss over a Nick Cave song?

Now I know better, or worse; and truth to tell I wouldn't care if I never heard the bloody thing again.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,chris
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 01:49 AM

Hi
suegorgeous, unfortunately I can't remember the actresses name who played the character 'Lola' in the TV program (Casualty or Holby City- UK tv) but she sang the song during a xmas screening- quite moving
chris

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 07:58 PM

Pip - not necessarily....that verse could be interpreted many ways....think about it (starting with kd lang)...... :)

Noreen - yeh, but the verses Alexandria sings are the most commonly sung ones, bar the erotic verse....

But exciting news!...there's a Facebook campaign to persuade people to download the Buckley version instead of X-factor one, to take over the no.1 slot, or at least come in at no 2 or 3.... see this link (sorry blue clicky wouldn't accept the URL)
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2008/12/15/a-secret-chord-jeff-buckley-leonard-cohen-fans-unite-to-keep-reality-show-version-of-hallelujah-off-british-chart.aspx


Sue

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Noreen
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 07:28 PM

Ha! Yes, I typed too hastily- thanks, Pip.

Btw, the discussion about the wiki entry for this song is worth a read (click the discussion tab after loading the wiki page I linked to above), dealing with the relative importance of the latest cover version of this song in the greater scheme of things...

I'm going to bed now before I make some greater blunder!

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Rog Peek
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 07:24 PM

Leonard Cohen's every time!

Rog

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 07:09 PM

Um, mainly because the verse alludes to the experience of penetrative sex from the male perspective, Sue.

Cowell, Noreen - although I'd love to hear Simon Callow's version...

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Noreen
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 07:03 PM

Doubt it was censored as such, Sue- I believe Mr Cohen wrote at least eighty verses... and has released at least two almost totally different versions of the song, so there are plenty to choose from.

I shouldn't think Simon Callow chose this song for its words anyway...

wiki / Hallelujah_(Leonard_Cohen_song)

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 06:46 PM

Pip

a) Yes, but my point there was that other pop songs aren't censored like that and keep their raunchy/suggestive bits...

b) Female singers shouldn't sing that song? why's that?

Sue

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 06:44 PM

I think I would go for Lordi's Hardrock Hallelujah...

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 06:39 PM

Sue - a) family teatime viewing ("that's funny Mum he said 'I moved in you', you can't move in someone else can you Mum? Mum?")
b) female singers

Both good reasons for not choosing the bloody song in the first place, of course (if the risks of submitting a classic song to the tender mercies of X-Factor finallists weren't enough on their own). But what do I know.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Peter the Squeezer
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 05:37 PM

I go along with Liz.

Handel every time.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Folkiedave
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 05:19 PM

Les Barker.

To Handel's Tune - Harvey Andrews.......

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Zen
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 04:50 PM

It's a terrific song. Leonard's own version is my favourite closely followed by kd lang's.

Good to see it doing well and the subject of discussion.

Zen

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 04:10 PM

yeh, who is this Lola, and why is she on this thread? :))

Rosie - yes, I think your summary is right - and it's so rare to find lyrics that are passionately erotic, as opposed to just raunchy/in-yer-face sexual. But did you notice - that verse was omitted from all the X-factor versions? (at least it was on TV) - hypocritical or what?

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 03:34 PM

jeff buckley's version is fine, john cale's version is my fave, but kathryn williams does a lovely version on her album of covers, the name of which escapes me at present.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,Chris Murray
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 01:11 PM

I think that Leonard Cohen's own version is the best as he sings it how he meant it to be sung.

I do, however, like Jeff Buckley's and kd lang's versions while a friend swears by Bob Jovi's.

There's a horrible version by Bono on 'Tower of Song' - a CD of Cohen covers.

The main thing is that Leonard will be getting lots of lovely royalties from the X-factor version - thanks, indeed, to Simon Cowell.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Sttaw Legend
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 12:33 PM

If it was not for the X Factor it would not even be up for discussion, well done Simon C. They all sing it very well in their different styles and it pleases their individual audiences.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 12:24 PM

Jeff Buckley every time!

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Rasener
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 11:34 AM

Well I like her version George and listen a lot to their music and like a lot of it (Radio1 for me). I realise having taken them to enough folk gigs that they are just not interested. So whilst I listen to their music, they get ratty if I put folk music on. I still likes me folk music though :-) And tehy still love their Dad, at least I think so. Of course they do, when I take them all over the place in the car, give em money etc etc. For the rest, I might as well not be there :-)

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Teribus
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 11:33 AM

"That's 2 against 73,000."

You mean we've got them surrounded Doug??

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 11:27 AM

Folk or you, Les? Face up to it.
I know the answer in my case!

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Rasener
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 11:25 AM

Well I told my daughters about the dislike of Alexandria Burke's version. They couldn't beleive it, but just commented "Ah well she will be number 1, that's good enough".
Problem is, that my daughters think folk is boring and so out of date.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 10:44 AM

OK Chris, but is this the place to discuss Lola's sacrifice on your behalf?

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,chris
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 10:39 AM

Lola from either Casualty or Holby City a number of christmas's ago took a lot of beating for me
chris

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 08:52 AM

Spot on Gerry. If it doesn't serve the song, any cover ain't worth the millions spent in advertising it.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: evansakes
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 08:43 AM

No I can't do better but that isn't the point. Funnily enough I used to do Hallelujah ten or more years back....I might not be a Caruso (or a Burke :-) but I like to think I got the point of the song across a little more effectively than Alexandria's bombastic version.

Her version IS awful in my opinion because it totally fails to serve the song. Hallelujah is a simple and poetic lament (almost a psalm) with a soaring and beautiful melody which gets totally dismembered by someone who is (let's face it) simply a glorified karaoke singer who has won a vacuous competition. It will be number one at Christmas simply because Burke has had hundreds of hours of free advertising in recent weeks and is tabloid fodder ad nauseam. 99% of the people who watch aren't discerning enough to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Like all X Factor types Burke suffers from terminal Mariah-itis.
For me anyone's abilities as a singer aren't defined by how many decorations you can make to a melody. Or perhaps I mean desecrations? These "singers" (apologies for paraphrasing dear old Jake) "will never sing two or three notes when a couple of thousand will easily do". That in itself is enough to make it awful in my opinion.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Rasener
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 07:47 AM

Pretty blinkered there Twickfolk.

If my daughters were to hear you slagging off Alexandria Burke, they would just think you were an old fart, and don't know what you are talking about.

How can you say she is aweful. Can you do better. Are you so good that yopu can pass judgement like that?

Gets my goat that people can so easily say that somebody is aweful, when in actual fact they don't suit your taste. Seems to be most applicable in the blinkered world of the folk scene.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: mattkeen
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 07:44 AM

Buckley's is absolutely beautiful & the best

But I do agree that it prob a song for an older person than Buckley was.


Enter Keith Richard stage right.............

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: evansakes
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 06:34 AM

Key change?? My arse!!

I've now heard the version by the X factor woman....awful awful awful. How anyone in their right mind can take this sensitive and passionate lament and turn it into a paint-by-numbers power ballad is beyond comprehension.

Well it goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall and the major lift
The clumsy and superfluous modulation

(Chorus, altogether, arms raised, lighters lit, cut to Cheryl Cole in floods of tears and a gobsmacked Simon Cowell etc etc)

Favourite version....Jeff Buckley gets totally inside the song for me.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,KevBoyd
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 06:28 AM

The disappointing thing about the X-Factor final (besides it's very existence, obviously) was that little hairy Eggnog got kicked out too early for us to hear is no-doubt excruciating version of "Hallelujah".

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Rasener
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 06:25 AM

Well I find it very difficult to choose the best version of it.

KD Lang just gets my vote

Il Divo do a very nice version of it.

I also like Rufus Wainrights version

I also Like Alexandria Burke's version. She has a great voice.

I wonder what Ricky Nelson would have been like doing this.

Here you go, listen to all of them on this link

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2008/12/15/hallelujah-from-alexandra-burke-to-jeff-buckley-listen-to-the-top-ten-versions-of

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 06:23 AM

I love K D Lang's version ......

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=P_NpxTWbovE&feature=channel_page

...... but then I'm a great fan of hers :-)