Hallelujah- Which is the best version?

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 13 May 09 - 11:38 PM

Whomever posts all these links -- thank you!!!!!.....! I just listened to Buckley's version and about 19 versions of kdlangs and - while I am a huge Cohen fan, kd gets my vote on this one 10 times over.....what a woman and what a song

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Ron Davies
Date: 13 May 09 - 10:46 PM

Heard Buckley's version--one of them on YouTube.   Very effective. Good that he knows that less is more.

But it somewhat depends on whether you mind if the song belies the word.

Since I prefer the musical setting to affirm the word "Hallelujah" , not comment ironically on it--(though I'm not religious)-- I'm with Liz--Handel wins with "Messiah".   His "Hallelujah, Amen" (Judas Maccabeus, I think) is also good.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: NormanD
Date: 13 May 09 - 03:22 PM

Has Susan Boyle recorded it yet? I'm sure she will if Cowell has anything to do with it.

I don't think that Len gets much out of this song now, despite being the writer. Perhaps someone could confirm this, I did read a piece to this effect a while back. Cowell does get a lot, however, as he has interests in the publishing rights - which is why the song was chosen in the first place.

norman

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 13 May 09 - 03:13 PM

beautiful

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Neil D
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 12:49 AM

The version sung by Four Norwegian Guys on Youtube is very nice.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 01:25 PM

Leonard might have sold his catalogue, publishing rights, but he should still cop PRS and 50% as a writer from Sony. I believe it's illegal to sell your writer's rights.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: LesB
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 10:03 AM

Just seen Alexandra's version on the box. Crap. A complete travisty.
Merry Crimbo
Les

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: LesB
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 02:14 PM

I'm glad/ashamed to say i've not knowingly heard any of the main protaganists version. I know i've heard it some time ago but which version I don't know. I've managed to advoid X factor & rarely have the radio on.
Cop out eh?
Cheers
Les

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 01:50 PM

Is Buckley's version getting played on the radio? (as much as any other no.2 record?) I don't listen to it, but would be interested to know.

I'm completely gutted to have learnt that LC is getting nothing out of this! I had been feeling so pleased for him, and that something good was coming out of this... :(

OK, it still is.... something beautiful and non-bland is near-topping the charts. :)

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 01:38 PM

I've never worked out how to do it unaccompanied - 8 bars of chorus per 16 bars of verse, at a bare minimum of five or six verses, is a lot to ask of an audience when the chorus is that plain, and when there's nothing going on behind it but the occasional cough from the heating pipes.

But if I had, I wouldn't be doing it now. Like Dave's snotty organiser, I go to clubs to hear and sing songs they don't play on the radio (although obviously I don't think that excludes the entire Dylan oeuvre).

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Dave Sutherland
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 11:44 AM

I had planned to do it at a club I was due to attend a week ago Monday (great chorus club/great chorus song)but when my youngster told me the night before that X Factor had hi-jacked the song I decided on something else instead. I even had a jocular conversation on the night with another chap who I know sings it - us both saying that we'll have to drop it now!
So my answer is no - for the time being.
The first folk club I ever went to in 1966 and enquired about singing Bob Dylan songs the person running the club said no as their folk club was there to provide music "that you can't hear any time of the day that you switch your radio on"

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 11:35 AM

It was sung last night in ours!
The Midway, Stockport.
A very nice cover of the Jeff Buckley version, by Young Dave Hudson.(As opposed to Old Dave Hudson.)
Cheers
Peter

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 11:09 AM

There we go. Will mudcatters sing this song at their local folk club?

Yes or no

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Dave Sutherland
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 10:03 AM

I would have thought that it will get sung less in folk clubs now :-(

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,Meggly
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 09:35 AM

Thanks Suegorgeous.

And a Merry Christmas to you too Villan (which ever version of Hallelujah we listen to!). And I agree in principle that some times we can all be a bit dismissive of 'out-groups'. I would qualify what I said earlier and add that I like to give musicians from any genre a listen and if they've really put some soul (with a small s) and individuality into it I generally like them (although I'm not completely objective and I find some musical genres a bit difficult to get into - but hey ho, we've all got our quirks).

*<:-)

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 08:00 AM

Meggly - very well put. In your 3rd para, you've concisely expressed what I think too, much better than I've been able to. Thanks! :)

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 07:47 AM

Meggly
Of course you are. :-)
I just get the feeling at times that people are too dismissive of pop singers, especially from the folk world.

Anyway, I suupose we will get it sung a bit more at the folk clubs. Good one to join in with :-)

I hope you have a very nice Christmas Meggly

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,Meggly
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 06:37 AM

Oh yeah, and the fact that Leonard won't get any royalties for this has removed my one consollation.

Silly b*gger.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,Meggly
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 06:34 AM

Hey Villan!

Is anyone allowed to critisise Ms Burke's version on artistic grounds or have we all just had our morning's fill of folkie sour grapes?

Just cause something is the most commercially popular doesn't make the detractors 'wrong' in the sense of their tastes and sensibilities, it just means that they're in the minority. History is littered with cases of the commercial (or most marketed) winning out over the better 'quality'; Betamax vs VHS for example.

I like many a pop act (I don't exclusively favour folk over pop). What I tend not to like are songs that are most obviously sung/produced by people using music as a route to fame/money, taking songs they have little feel for and simply replicating the mores of current commerical acceptability and applying blanket vocal techniques; which to my ears is what AB, and her producers, have done to a song I feel particularly strongly about. I'm not so naive to believe that this is new, but there have been numerous studies recently highlighting that increasingly young people's career aspirations centre around being famous (mainly through becoming glamour models or singers, in the case of girls, obviously!)

I do feel as if I should be entitled to not have my tastes dismissed as sour grapes because a song I have no respect for artisically has found more commercial success than one that I do.

Anyway, despite all this you will continue to enjoy AB's version and at least you won't have to run out of cafes everytime it comes on the radio!

Ho ho ho.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 05:34 AM

Omigod! poor Lenny!! :0

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: bubblyrat
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 05:20 AM

Handel's.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 05:12 AM

Hmm, just saw this snippet on anotehr forum. Don't know how accurate it is.

>>According to either the Sunday Express or Mail Leonard will not be raking any money in for royalties on his classic song! A few years ago his ex lover/manager advised him to sell his back catalogue which he did....to Sony. <<

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Ian Fyvie
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 10:06 PM

Does it matter?

Smells like a bit of artificial conflict - a la Wrestling Matches: get an argument going in the media - Air Head Dept. - and watch support/sales for each boom!

Didn't know it as a Leonard Cohen song - not a fan of that sort of music anyway...


Ian Fyvie

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 09:14 PM

I don't think the criticism of the Burke rendering is anything to do with her not singing it as if it were a folksong and as if she was a folksinger. Leonard Cohen isn't exactly a folk singer, and this is hardly a folksong.

It's about whether she did justice to the song.   And I'd doubt if that was a matter which too many of those voting were concerned about - it was surely about who they wanted to see more of in the future.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Rasener
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 05:39 PM

Well the download was on a scale of 7 to 1

So whether you think the folk version is better or not, think about it when you go into your supermarket. out of every 8 people you see, 7 don't agree with the folk world.

Thats a pretty heavy majority.

So instead of thinking everybody else is wrong, may i suggest that you may be wrong.

well its no nay never, no nay never .......

I love folk, but am not so stupid to think that it is the b all and end all. Its a genre of music, a small part, but it makes me happy.

Sometimes I think the folk world is a b it like the Liberal Party. The minority trying to preach to the majority.

As Diane Easby says "The sole positive outcome is that Leonard Cohen will recoup some of the dosh his accountant nicked."

And there was me thinking that the folk world was the most honest in the world. Well that is apart from Cohen's accountant and Pickering Folk Festival.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 05:12 PM

I've never seen the X thing. I didn't know there was a vote because, as McGrath says, I had better (not hard) things to do, as had most of the "rest of the nation" (or I certainly hope so).
Enfranchisement is a tremendous, hard-won privilege and I always use it to elect people who I hope will at least try to make a difference.
Crap karaoke "performers" who belt out words without the slightest inkling of what they are singing about do not come anywhere near that category.
The sole positive outcome is that Leonard Cohen will recoup some of the dosh his accountant nicked.
Meanwhile, I continue to recommend Simon Ritchie's take on Squeezebox Schizophrenia.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Rasener
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 04:54 PM

Sour grapes me thinks. The folkie world is so blinkered at times.

When I was a young lad, i swore I wopuld not be like my dad criticising all the new singers on the market, if i had children.

I listen to Radio 1 at the ripe old age of 63 and I hear an aweful lot of excellent music, that my daughters enjoy.

I also listen and see an aweful lot of folk singers and most of it I thoroughly enjoy.

Music is music and it makes the world go around. I don't know what I would do without music, from whatever Genre. Its the spice of life. Folk does not rule or own the world.

I run Faldingworth Live with passion, but I hope I never get so blinkered that I cannot accept our youngsters form of music.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 04:09 PM

"...the rest of the nation voted for her." Most of the nation had better things to do. Even very unimportant things would qualify for that.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Rasener
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 04:03 PM

Well Jeff buckley came runner up. So congatulations to Alexandra Burke. Beside the whole of the folkie world and even the Bishop of Croydon conveying their disatisfaction, the rest of the nation voted for her.

It won't spoil my Xmas as i like both versions, but like KD Langs version the best.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 12:55 PM

I would vote for kd lang hands down, then LC's version. I really do not care at all for the Jeff Buckley version. Saw LC sing it live recently..awesome and he has such respect for his audience.. a class act all the way round and a truly great song.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 08:47 PM

Peace, Bob....... lol :)

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: akenaton
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 04:16 PM

Hallelujah bum again......Hows it goin,Ard :0)

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Noreen
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 04:16 PM

Just listened to Jeff Buckley's version for the first time, and I love it- he inhabits the song. Shivers down the spine where he sings..cold and broken.. Real music.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: ard mhacha
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 01:52 PM

Hallelujah i`m a bum.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 01:51 PM

Latest news - Buckley's in at no.2 in the UK Singles Chart! just below Alexandra. New chart just out.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Kampervan
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 04:20 AM

Well, the Bishop of Croydon, a man who certainly seems to have spent a lot of time listening to Leonard Cohen and his works, was in no doubt on Radio 4 this morning. He was of the opinion that Alexandra Burke had 'murdered' Hallelujah.
His preference was for either the Buckley or the Cale version.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 20 Dec 08 - 01:57 PM

Just in case you'd like to download Jeff Buckley's version and/or support the campaign - here's the Facebook link (which has several download links on the page)

Jeff Buckley campaign Facebook page

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 20 Dec 08 - 01:33 PM

And Buckley's version is now no. 3 in the I-Tunes chart (and no.30 in the Official Singles Chart - where Alexandra doesn't yet appear...)

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,bankley
Date: 20 Dec 08 - 01:05 PM

I thought it was about a racetrack in Hialeah,,,,,,,,, Florida....

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 20 Dec 08 - 12:56 PM

The spoof version heard on The Now Show on Radio 4 (about 5 minutes from the end)

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Santa
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 02:13 PM

Just to clarify: Guest: Santa isn't me.

Having replayed the Kate Voegele version, I need to add something. Its OK.... until she gets into over-emphasising the hallelujahs.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 01:18 PM

Casa Crumpet's verdict is Jeff Buckley - except it doesn't include the "Even though it all went wrong" verse, which is one of my favourites.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Beer
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 12:23 PM

Three Cheers for Leonard.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,santa
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 12:14 PM

The more I listen to this song the more I think Cohen took his melody from Buddy Kaye and Jules Loman's Christmas Alphabet (published in 1954). The first four bars are identical.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 11:16 AM

And, just for fun...Bon Jovi - Respect...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMRPfCRV2xI
Faithful to the original, done by real Pros who know what they're doing...nice
BR

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 09:36 AM

Dear Sue(gorgeous), how are you(a rhyme, and it's early in the morning.) Yo. Uh, weeeeell, let's call it musically challenged to be politically correct. A close friend of mine(my sweetie) loves this particular CD of ethnic music where the mandolin player is SERIOUSLY out of tune. I listen to it with her because she loves the music, which is good, but the guy is out of tune. So who am I, a mere MAN...
to tell her what she likes is flawed? She's having a good time, so I just shut up about it, just like I'm going to do right now...And, this lessens the chances of her putting a pillow over my face during the night...BR

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,Gadaffi
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 09:16 AM

Simon Ritchie on 'Squezebox schizophrenia.' No competition.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Santa
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 09:05 AM

I don't quite understand why I haven't heard this song before, but was sent to Mudcat to get the words on behalf of a friend of Mrs Santa, who thought that it had to be a better song than X-factor had made it. So I've been playing some of the You-tube videos. Not yet found Alexandra's version, possibly happily so. There's a young lass recently started coming to the club, she doesn't know much folk music but knows that songs should be sung as if they mean something to the singer. She was quite dismissive about X-factor - nearly as good as the Guardian today (but as I haven't heard it yet, I shouldn't really comment, should I?)

Just to join the crowd in pressing my own opinions: Katherine Jenkins was quite good, if a bit soulless, but the kdlang one was awful. Pure ham and over-acting. She'd got to be taking the piss.

I'm not sure I've found the "best" version yet, it's not Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Allison Crowe, although Kate Voegele's ok-ish. Quite liked Rufus Wainwright but the John Cale one was pretty good, for the reasons mentioned above. Now suffering from over-exposure, so will go away and listen to the Buckley and Cohen versions again tonight.

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 08:15 AM

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nnHksDFHTQI

Subject: RE: Hallelujah- Which is the best version?
From: GUEST,frank
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 07:01 AM

I searched the net and found what I think is the best version after listening all versions including the x-factor one. In my humble opinion I think Bow Jenkins does the best version and its on I tunes. here is her website if you interested: http://www.bowjenkins.com