leonardcohenforum.com

Great! I can live with Leonard being No.36 for one week. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time a Leonard song has been in the singles chart since Noel Harrison's "Suzanne" enterered the top 30 for one week in the Sixties. After this, Leonard can slip back into his cult position (which is far and away the best place to be), while the other versions are relentlessly played to death. Of course, we'll all be blown away when we hear Leonard's definitive version on the forthcoming live DVD.

All good things, John E

it just goes to prove that Leonard was right all along! hope he tours the uk again next year

The thought occurred to me whilst listening to Jeff Buckley and then Alexandra on the top 40 countdown that Johnny Marr of The Smiths should also be celebrating today: Buckley's arpeggiated guitar backing to his cover of Hallelujah sounds to me like it was influenced by Marr's brilliant guitar work on the early Smiths' song Back To The Old House.

That's a song that would make a good Christmas number 1 one of these days .

Buckley's Hallelujah:

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

The Smiths' Back To The Old House:

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

Back To The Old House (acoustic instrumental demo):

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-2D5SUN0Z2g

Interviewed on the radio, Alexandra Burke did mention that she knows both Leonard's original version and Jeff Buckley's cover (and prefers Buckley). It's clear from her biography that she has quite a musical tradition behind her, so perhaps we have been a little too quick to judge her too immature at twenty to understand such a deep song. This far, she has had no control over the choice of song ... but no doubt that will all change now she is in the driving seat (tonight she said that she wants to continue working with Cheryl Cole, which must have put Simon Cowell's nose out of joint!)

there's no reason why leonard's version shouldn't continue to rise upwards if people continue to download it.

the radio 1 chart show is on the right hand side of link :

leonard's entry is at 18 minutes and 40 seconds into show.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/enter ... 788518.stm
----------
there was also 45 minutes of heated discussion at the beginning of saturday's cristo show (but audio reuqires pay subscription¬)

http://www.lbc.co.uk/cristo-foufas-homepage-3535

Hi everyone,

I hope you are well and warm this Christmas season. Victoria, BC, Canada is covered in snow which is very very unusual weather for this part of the world.

You know, I have to weigh in on Hallelujah. I mean, you know your song must be good when Bob Dylan covers it in concert. In Montreal! That's quite the homage.

But, nobody does Hallelujah like Leonard. As a budding songwriter myself (I've only been doing it for 8 years), there is nothing like the songwriter singing a song s/he has written. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE IT. Everyone knows that Leonard rewrites and rewrites and rewrites and rewrites his lyrics. There is no one who can bring to that powerful song (a friend of mine compared it to a prayer) what Leonard can. Nobody. Yes, everybody may have his/her opinion of who sings it best (I really like Rufus Wainwright, hell, I love the whole damn family!), but "nobody does it better . . ." (I can't remember who sings that song; someone help me out here).

So, you or your little sister or professionals can cover it, but nobody does it better than our Leonard.

Merry Christmas fellow Cohenites!

Shalom,

Natalie

Hi Natalie,

"Nobodody Does It Better" if my memory serves me well was by Carly Simon. Totally agree that no-one sings Leonard like Leonard.
I guess one has to be familiar his work though, to appreciate why his version is the definitive one.

All good things, John E

How amazing to see three Hallelujahs in the charts It's been so strange reading the papers this week and seeing article after article about the song and about Leonard, where previously you could go a year and not see anything. I almost prefer it when he's liked only by those lucky enough to be in the know, but that's being a bit selfish, hopefully more people will be aware of his music now.

Hi somewhat_nifty,

I'd be interested to know how many people who have bought "The Essential Leonard Cohen" in the past week, actually get as far as listening to the second CD! Personally, I'd recommend that newbies start with "Songs From a Room" and then see if they're ready to take the journey.

All good things, John E

Leonard Cohen wrote: It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

...and Alexandra (bless her) is guaranteed a No. 1 album!

John E x

This one's for Natalie, surely the same Natalie who wrote "Leonard's Guitar" and kindly invited me to include one of my own poems in a special issue of the Victoria Writers Society magazine, "Write Away". It was a Leonard Cohen tribute, which also included the first publication of Leonard's "This Isn't China".
I'm glad you are writing !
Thankyou again, Natalie

Shalom,

Andrew.

.

John Etherington wrote:Hi somewhat_nifty,

I'd be interested to know how many people who have bought "The Essential Leonard Cohen" in the past week, actually get as far as listening to the second CD! Personally, I'd recommend that newbies start with "Songs From a Room" and then see if they're ready to take the journey.

All good things, John E

Newbies ! Someones been watching Deal or no deal