Hallelujah!

[poliphilo]

No, I haven't heard the Alexandra Burke version, but I'm sure it'll mug me sooner or later. I just think it's cool that a Leonard Cohen song is going to be this year's Xmas #1.

I was part of Cohen's original core audience. I really did listen to him in a student bedsit round about the time the 60s were shading into the 70s. I believe I was introduced to him by David Reindorp- now Vicar of Chelsea Old Church and Chaplain to the Honourable Artillery Company and the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers. (Read a rather good sermon by him- here)

Even if that wasn't my earliest encounter, I vividly remember Reindorp (we addressed one another by our surnames because that's what one did in English public schools in the middle of the 20th century) enthusing over a sleeve note which described Cohen worshipping at a woman's body as at an altar.

I owned about five records c.1970. One was The Songs of Leonard Cohen. Others were Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence, The Pentangle's Basket of Light and The Doors' Waiting For the Sun. I played them over and over and over.

Hey, I had pretty good taste.

I like how Cohen has gone on writing good songs. That's rare. Songwriting is a young person's game. Most singer songwriters burn out early.

Hallelujah isn't my favourite. My favourites are Suzanne, Tower of Song and First We Take Manhattan.

O.K., the voice is a bit of a drone, but this isn't suicide music. Not everything that's difficult is necessarily depressing. In fact, rather the opposite.  Read the lyrics and they're full of anger and affirmation and a tap-tap-tapping at the doors of revelation.

Cohen is a poet. Yeah, I know that gets said about people who don't deserve it- like Dylan and McCartney- but in Cohen's case it happens to be true. 

Comments

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

Leonard Cohen wrote the song, but Jeff Buckley's version make it a hit and a classic. The Cohen version is booooring!

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I must second a vote for Buckley's "Hallelujah". His voice has a sweet, ethereal, haunting quality like no other.

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

Still makes me cry -every time I hear it

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There's a campaign to get the Buckley version to the top of the UK charts. It probably won't succeed, but it may make #2.

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

I have it -have had it for years. I love it - I hope it makes it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's quite likely that Hallejujah will occupy the #1 and the #2 spots- with burke coming out on top. Cohen's own version is also in the charts but a long way further down.

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

That's not his kind of song: He wrote it but he doesn't have the right voice to do it justice. His voice works on Suzanne, but not on this.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe you're right.

[richenda.livejournal.com]

Is that by any chance reindorp of reindorp (the bishop)?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

David Reindorp is Bishop Reindorp's son.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

I think Paul Simon is also a poet. "Kathy's Song" in particular but also "Bookends" and "America" and so many others. And maybe certain bits of Van Morrison (e.g. Astral Weeks).

It adds an extra dimension to the pop song. Never got into Cohen much though. Can't get past the droning.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think Simon gets there sometimes. He cares about words. He uses them creatively.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Paul gets the poet vote from me, of course, but then so does Bob.

I've never got into Leonard Cohen either, but given what else was on your list it sounds like I need to give Pentangle a shot.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Pentangle were one of the definitive folk-rock groups. They didn't last very long.

Bob's verse is too haphazard. He comes up with brilliant individual lines, but the songs as a whole tend to sprawl. I love Bob. I think he's the greatest living songwriter, but I'm not comfortable with calling him a poet.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Hmm...Forever Young? Like A Rolling Stone? Idiot Wind?

ISWYM for a lot of his work, though.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Dylan is careless. He throws a lot of words at the wall and some of them stick. I don't get the impression he works very hard at his lyrics. Maybe he does and an appearance of artlessness is exactly what he's trying for.

Cohen on the other hand is a very careful carftsman.

[ryanstrong.livejournal.com]

Leonard Cohen is one of my favorite musicians. Second only to Billy Bragg.

I really enjoy his later albums, actually. Favorite songs are: Famous Blue Raincoat, Waiting For the Miracle, and I'm Your Man.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I like Billy Bragg too. His two albums of Woody Guthrie songs are brilliant.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Billy Bragg has such a good turn of phrase, in so many of his songs.

"I had to look in a dictionary, to find the meaning of unrequited,
While she was giving it away for free at a party to which I was never invited"

Beautiful.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I suggest having a listen to some of KD Lang's performances of the song. Others here say Jeff Buckley's version is best, but I would disagree.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The newspaper this morning said there were over 100 recordings of Hallelujah out there. I must try and catch up with some of them.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

YouTube is your friend in this regard. There's several versions on there, including the KD Lang version here.

I also like the John Cale and Rufus Wainwright versions. And there's a version on there with Leonard Cohen from the 1970s that makes me think of the Muppet Show (in a good way).

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I need to sort out my speakers. I've been YouTubeless now for weeks and it's getting to be frustrating.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

I so agree with you. I heard kd lange's version first and continue to like it best.

And say what you like, Tony, too much Leonard Cohen is hazardous for your health. 'specially if you take meds for low spirits.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't argue with experience, but I've been listening to Cohen in the kitchen- and there are songs on the album that make me want to dance.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I've always liked Leonard Cohen best when his songs were covered by Buffy Sainte-Marie. She did a cover of Suzanne at a 1967 concert that absolutely took my breath away. And the version of God is Alive, Magic is Afoot the recorded for her "Illuminations" album was its own kind of magical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhmeroR20lc

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I like Buffy Sainte-Marie. In fact I think I was a little in love with her once.

Cohen the Poet

[brttvns.livejournal.com]

More than any other songwriter does Cohen's imagery and careful use of words (and their connotations) deserve him the title poet. 'Hallelujah', though a great song, is not my favourite of his (that list could ramble - 'So Long, Marianne', 'Famous Blue Raincoat', 'Dance Me To The End Of Love'.......) I just hope that one decent thing may actually be achieved by such awful television - someone may start looking into Cohen's music, then embark on a voyage of discovery collecting other musical tastes and influences.

Re: Cohen the Poet

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I understand Cohen stands to earn around $1,000,000 in royalties- which is nice.

He was a poet before he was a songwriter. I think it shows.

[algabal.livejournal.com]

I don't think he ever even came close to matching his debut album. That was almost a revelatory experience for me.

There's just something...wrong with his later music, even the good songs. I don't like "Hallelujah" at all.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think there has been an effort with the later albums to make them more musical, which- given Cohen's voice and the primacy of the word in his work- rather misses the point.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Dylan thinks Cohen is brilliant too. He's covered a number of his songs.

I wouldn't want to judge between them. They're both terrific talents.