John Etherington wrote:Meanwhile, the big question is would Leonard be likely to recruit Alexandra, if for any reason, Sharon Robinson had to step down ?!
with some maturity [way to go yet perhaps] and/or guidance behind her, maybe. when she learns to sling off the formulaic approach that she has been bound to for years, she might emerge as quite something.
meanwhile, there are those 'sex tapes' to dispose of...if she can get them off her erstwhile boyfriend, the scheming little bar steward.
In my pantheon of great songs an all-time favourite is Lily The Pink. I never realised it once reached Nº 1 - good year that must have been. Roger McGough is wonderful. (that story where the man takes a deep breath, puts it back, and closes the window...)
I discovered Lily The Pink in a Glasgow flat on a rainy day about 10 years ago, my partner played it to my 6-year-old French nephew, who immediately started dancing. Years later I introduced the song to my new nephew and niece, who immediately started dancing. And to friends' children, esp those called Lily. All have adopted it as their 'favourite song'.
They love everything about it, and so do I.
(My niece decided it was OK to dance even though 'Lily died and the singing man got sad', because Lily comes back to life as soon as you press Play again).
Do you happen to like, in the same vein, 'I'm a Gnu'? Or is that taking things too far?
And coming back to Hallelujah - personally, to hear Leonard sing it cheers me up.
Could someone (maybe Jarkko?) please clarify if Leonard will recieve song-writing royalties from the sales of Alexandra'a "Hallelujah"?
In a previous post on this merged thread, it was suggested that a subsidiary of Sony (Syco?) had the rights to the song and that Simon Cowell had more than his finger in that company.
Andrew.
p.S. I agree with Paula:the best versions are from The Master himself, especially given his triumphant tour this year! He has reclaimed the song as his own with power and delicacy as only he can do.
Thanks for your kind words. I think "Lily the Pink" had very wide appeal. It also had a certain credibility, because Roger McGough was a respected underground poet, and Mike McGear was Paul McCartney's brother. I believe it was number one for a few weeks in 1968. I also remember "I'm a Gnu" by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann. An uncle of mine once played it to me when he heard that I liked popular music (though it wasn't my idea of pop music at the time!).
Actually of all things X factor is not really manufactured, they are genuinely picking people from the street, albeit attractive young ones, and the band were a band before they entered (not that I watched it you'll understand!) But Alex the winner is without doubt very talented, and I for one thought her version was good.
After expecting the song to be truly hideous, it was only partly hideous (after the Cowell trademark of key change, gospel choirs and full-on warbling). I suppose you can't bring a good song down too far The silver lining is hopefully that it brings more people to Leonard's music - as John E said above, it was almost like it found you before...
I'm chained to the old masquerade... 2008: London O2 14th Nov, RAH 18th Nov; 2009: NY RCMH 16th May, Weybridge MBW 11th July, Barcelona 21st Sept; 2010: Sligo 31st July, Lille 25th Sept, Las Vegas 11th Dec; 2012: Wembley Arena 8th Sept, Dublin 11th Sept 2013: London O2 21st June, London O2 14th Sept
I normally do not watch X-Factor or have the time., but I was curious to see who would win
it this time.. I had spotted Alexandara Burke few weeks ago and thought she had a great
Voice., I must say when I saw & heard her Sing Hallelujah (that great Lenny Song).,
I was bowled over!! and JLS., also did it justice.!!
I was very moved and Proud., to find that another Audience have been now introduced
to the Great Composer Leonard Cohen's Music., I think he would make the comment
"he is humbled" by all of this attention to what he has Composed.
Maybe we should all download his Version and have another 'Competition' to
make Lenny No. 1 for Christmas 2008!!??
It just goes to show...how great Musical Composers., their music lives
on through generations., Long may His Music live on and Continue
to Inspire!
Ardent Fan of Lenny from Galway, Ireland...Josephine H XX
When she started to sing, moments after being told she had won, I presumed she was just going to mime like Britney Spears. After all, that was a lot to ask of an amateur while surfing a tidal wave of emotion. So when she lost it completely after 'baffled king' I really felt for her, really admired her doing it live ... and somehow that made her rendition seem suddenly very authentic.
And when she recovered, at 1:13 you can see her mouth the words 'thank you' ... so perhaps she really was thanking God as she sang it this time ...
“If you do have love it's a kind of wound, and if you don't have it it's worse.” - Leonard, July 1988
At the Newport Festival in 1967, didn't another performer of a Cohen classic falter due to emotion,then regroup and continue the song to tumultuous applause?
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies"~ Groucho Marx
Davido wrote:At the Newport Festival in 1967, didn't another performer of a Cohen classic falter due to emotion,then regroup and continue the song to tumultuous applause?
Dunno I was only 8!! but I did see him at Glasto this summer ............ amazing uplifting and emotional all at once.
A friend of mine, who has a good perception of these things, has pointed out something obvious about the "Halleujah" phenomenon that should have occurred to me in the first place. She said that it is a collective spiritual hunger that is the reason why the song has to be enter the wider public consciousness, at this time. Suddenly, it became clear to me that if Alexandra (and is it JLS?) are the ones who have been chosen to bring the song to the greater populace right now, then that's the way it's got to be.
John Etherington wrote:it became clear to me that if Alexandra (and is it JLS?) are the ones who have been chosen to bring the song to the greater populace right now, then that's the way it's got to be.
I think it could a apply to most of Leonard's music, not just the song with the obviously religious-sounding chorus. He answers a personal spiritual quest, whether it's for religion (Old or New Testament), poetry, sensuality, truth, wisdom, wit, or any other form of transcendence so horribly missing from the everyday.
Leonard's appeal is much greater than most people think; from baying crowds in an ITV studio to writers like Pico Iyer and Simon Schama, from all of us on this Forum (motley crew that we are) to all the other fans out there old and new - he speaks to many kinds of hunger and quenches many thirsts. Let's hope this year has finally banished those irritating 'miserabilist' cliches about 'music to slit your wrists by' etc etc.
To my younger self, Leonard's songs represented a defense against the mendacity, cruelty or stupidity of the people one is forced to work with / be with in civilian life. I literally played them as medicine. Especially Hallelujah.
The silver lining is hopefully that it brings more people to Leonard's music - as John E said above, it was almost like it found you before...
