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Do you love the song "Hallelujah" as much as I do?

NanceXToo
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NanceXToo

NanceXToo

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The one Leonard Cohen wrote? And popularized by Shrek? I've always ADORED Jeff Buckley's version.

 

But have you ever heard this one? Amazing!!! They take turns singing and each one's voice is more incredible than the next. I love the third guy's voice, it's really unique. And the fourth guy just sounds like an angel. Amazing!

 

 

 

Tell me what you think!! :)

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Harry Nelson in Charlotte

Harry Nelson in Charlotte

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Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" is THE most listened to song on my iTunes by a mile. First fell in love with it during an episode of the West Wing, when Simon got shot.

 

 

BTW:

 

Number 2: Lucky Man by The Verve

Number 3: In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins (some Phil Collins or Genesis song has been in my Top 5 since 1984)

Number 4: Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve

Number 5: My Own Prison, by Creed

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WishboneDawn

WishboneDawn

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OK, I'm going to reveal what a total dunce I am :blushing: but could someone explain to me what this song is about? I agree the music is lovely, but the lyrics just leave me ... stumped. I've listened and listened and read and re-read the lyrics but I still don't get the overall message.:confused:

 

Here's a link to some interpretations.

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NanceXToo

NanceXToo

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OMG!!! I have chills!! That 4th guy made me teary. Beautiful!! I loved it when Jason Castro sang Jeff Buckley's version on American Idol. Thank you for sharing!!

 

Oh me too!! How adorable was Jason?! LOL.

 

I never heard the kd lang version! I'm going to listen to it now...

 

...

 

...

 

.....ok I'm currently listening. Wow, very nice! I got chills! There's so much powerful emotion in that song, I just love it!

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Audrey

Audrey

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I actually prefer Leonard Cohen's own version. His voice is rough and edgy, as are the lyrics. It's not a pretty-pretty song lyrically. I find it too "sanitized" when sung with an intention to make something angelic out of it.

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NanceXToo

NanceXToo

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I actually prefer Leonard Cohen's own version. His voice is rough and edgy, as are the lyrics. It's not a pretty-pretty song lyrically. I find it too "sanitized" when sung with an intention to make something angelic out of it.

 

I LOVE Leonard Cohen's writing. Like it all reads like great poetry or something. But I just never could get into his singing.

 

I do like that his version of Hallelujah has verses that other versions don't have, but the voice just doesn't do it for me!

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Audrey

Audrey

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Another song I really love is the "Somewhere Over The Rainbow/Wonderful World" by IZ!!! (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole)

 

I think I first heard it at the end of 50 First Dates (loved!) and fell in love with the song.

 

(Jason Castro did that one on Idol too :D)

 

 

Oh, that makes me cry. every. time. I thank CBC Radio for introducing me to Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. And, if you know how to pronounce his name, it's probably because you listen to CBC Radio, too. :001_smile:

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orangearrow

orangearrow

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I actually prefer Leonard Cohen's own version. His voice is rough and edgy, as are the lyrics. It's not a pretty-pretty song lyrically. I find it too "sanitized" when sung with an intention to make something angelic out of it.

 

I LOVE this song and totally agree with the above (except that my favorite version is Jeff Buckley's with KD Lang a close second... :). My interpretation of these lyrics is anything but "angelic".

Edited by orangearrow
correcting a crazy misspelled word
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orangearrow

orangearrow

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Another song I really love is the "Somewhere Over The Rainbow/Wonderful World" by IZ!!! (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole)

 

I think I first heard it at the end of 50 First Dates (loved!) and fell in love with the song.

 

(Jason Castro did that one on Idol too :D)

 

Love, love, LOVE this song too. I first heard it on an episode of ER (Dr. Greene's last episode).

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Aubrey

Aubrey

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This is my all-time favorite song.

video is so good. Buckley, but it's more for the filming. (Couldn't spell cinematography.)

 

Amber monochrome serial killer look, & you can imagine the song is the last creepy speech before he kills the girl who cheated on him or something.

 

There. Now y'all know how I really am. ;)

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Kebo

Kebo

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I've got three versions of this song on my iTunes (Jeff Buckley, Kate Voegele, and Daisy Chapman). Off to check out k.d. lang as well.......

 

(I also have Somewhere Over the Rainbow/WaWW by IZ, which my DD3 often requests at bedtime. Good stuff.)

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NanceXToo

NanceXToo

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This is my all-time favorite song.
video is so good. Buckley, but it's more for the filming. (Couldn't spell cinematography.)

 

Amber monochrome serial killer look, & you can imagine the song is the last creepy speech before he kills the girl who cheated on him or something.

 

There. Now y'all know how I really am. ;)

 

LOL! Thanks for sharing the video, Aubrey. I'd never seen it. He was so talented. It's so tragic that he died. Him AND Iz. Sniff sniff.

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ThatCyndiGirl

ThatCyndiGirl

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Another song I really love is the "Somewhere Over The Rainbow/Wonderful World" by IZ!!! (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole)

 

I think I first heard it at the end of 50 First Dates (loved!) and fell in love with the song.

 

(Jason Castro did that one on Idol too :D)

 

 

OOh, isn't that the version they used on ER when Mark Green died? Haunting!

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NanceXToo

NanceXToo

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Hm I never watched ER!

 

I do love me some Jon Bon Jovi! lol.

 

Arrrgh help me, I'm stuck on Youtube and I can't get off! I just rewatched the series finale of "Six Feet Under"- the final scenes where Claire is driving and they keep showing flash forwards of how all her loved ones age and die, and finally she does, too, set to "Breathe Me" by Sia.

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Nakia

Nakia

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Hm I never watched ER!

 

I do love me some Jon Bon Jovi! lol.

 

Arrrgh help me, I'm stuck on Youtube and I can't get off! I just rewatched the series finale of "Six Feet Under"- the final scenes where Claire is driving and they keep showing flash forwards of how all her loved ones age and die, and finally she does, too, set to "Breathe Me" by Sia.

 

I'm stuck, too, listening to all the different versions. My husband keeps giving me the stink eye. :lol:

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Corraleno

Corraleno

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I LOVE Leonard Cohen's writing. Like it all reads like great poetry or something.

He was a published poet and novelist before he ever recorded an album. I love his poetry; his voice I can only take in small doses.

 

OK, I'm going to reveal what a total dunce I am :blushing: but could someone explain to me what this song is about? I agree the music is lovely, but the lyrics just leave me ... stumped. I've listened and listened and read and re-read the lyrics but I still don't get the overall message.:confused:

If someone asks you what any Leonard Cohen song or poem is about, and you say "It's about the wonders of s*x and the pain of love," you'll be right about 90% of the time. ;) I know people sometimes look for a Christian/Biblical interpretation of Hallelujah (e.g. the whole song is about David, or it's about the singer's relationship with God), but Cohen is actually an ordained Buddhist monk. He still considers himself a Jew as well, and he uses a lot of Judeo-Christian symbolism in his writing, but often the Biblical allusions relate more to the idea that love and s*x mirror religious experience in terms of the depths of joy and pain. E.g. "Remember when I moved in you, the holy dove was moving too, and every breath we drew was hallelujah." I think the David/Bathsheba references (and, more obliquely, the Samson reference — "she cut your hair") refer to a common theme in Cohen's writing: that even the most powerful man on earth is helpless in the face of love/s*xual attraction. If you look at Cohen's own life, he seems to have spent an awful lot of it vacillating between "helpless" and "aw, bummer." :lol:

 

Jackie

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ThatCyndiGirl

ThatCyndiGirl

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Since we are posting our favourite haunting melodies here:

 

We played this song during the photo montage at my brother's funeral. I had never heard this song before my SIL suggested it. Now I love it. It was just so perfect:

 

 

 

Then this one played:

 

 

 

I thought about using Hurt by Johnny Cash, but we were out of songs by that time. (We also used "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" since that was the last song I sang to him as he died and my mom requested a song, too.)

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NanceXToo

NanceXToo

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Might as well link
He is my favorite AI contestant ever!!

 

Thanks for linking to it! I saw it on AI back then of course but it was nice watching it again. I really like Jason Castro, too. And I remember seeing his brother in a subsequent season and thinking he sounded really good too but he didn't make it far into the show, unfortunately.

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ThatCyndiGirl

ThatCyndiGirl

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He was a published poet and novelist before he ever recorded an album. I love his poetry; his voice I can only take in small doses.

 

 

If someone asks you what any Leonard Cohen song or poem is about, and you say "It's about the wonders of s*x and the pain of love," you'll be right about 90% of the time. ;) I know people sometimes look for a Christian/Biblical interpretation of Hallelujah (e.g. the whole song is about David, or it's about the singer's relationship with God), but Cohen is actually an ordained Buddhist monk. He still considers himself a Jew as well, and he uses a lot of Judeo-Christian symbolism in his writing, but often the Biblical allusions relate more to the idea that love and s*x mirror religious experience in terms of the depths of joy and pain. E.g. "Remember when I moved in you, the holy dove was moving too, and every breath we drew was hallelujah." I think the David/Bathsheba references (and, more obliquely, the Samson reference — "she cut your hair") refer to a common theme in Cohen's writing: that even the most powerful man on earth is helpless in the face of love/s*xual attraction. If you look at Cohen's own life, he seems to have spent an awful lot of it vacillating between "helpless" and "aw, bummer." :lol:

 

Jackie

 

 

I totally agree, after studying the lyrics for the past hour or so. I think it's about how you have to feel pain and give up part of yourself to find true love and that TRUE LOVE isn't nearly as fairy tale as we think. The reference to: "the only thing I knew of love is how to shoot someone who outdrew ya" is, to me, that he was conditioned to "hurt the other person first before she can beat me to the punch", or how to break up/cheat on/otherwise hurt that person you love because you don't know how to deal with such raw emotion.

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NanceXToo

NanceXToo

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Those of you studying the Hallelujah lyrics, did you look at Leonard Cohen's version? Some of the lyrics are different:

 

"Hallelujah"

 

Now I've heard there was a secret chord

That David played, and it pleased the Lord

But you don't really care for music, do you?

It goes like this

The fourth, the fifth

The minor fall, the major lift

The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

 

Your faith was strong but you needed proof

You saw her bathing on the roof

Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you

She tied you

To a kitchen chair

She broke your throne, and she cut your hair

And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

 

Baby I have been here before

I know this room, I've walked this floor

I used to live alone before I knew you.

I've seen your flag on the marble arch

Love is not a victory march

It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

 

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

 

There was a time you let me know

What's really going on below

But now you never show it to me, do you?

And remember when I moved in you

The holy dove was moving too

And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

 

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

 

You say I took the name in vain

I don't even know the name

But if I did, well really, what's it to you?

There's a blaze of light

In every word

It doesn't matter which you heard

The holy or the broken Hallelujah

 

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

 

I did my best, it wasn't much

I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch

I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you

And even though

It all went wrong

I'll stand before the Lord of Song

With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

 

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah

 

(I always really liked that line, "You say I took the name in vain, I don't even know the name, but if I did, well, really, what's it to you?")

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