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Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 2:17 am
by kwills
liptrot wrote:Hallelujuh!! X Factor is over and Alexandra's Leaving
Good One!!
Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 2:48 am
by John Etherington
Out of some perverse curiosity, I've just googled a video of Alexandra's "Hallelujah". Fortunately, it aborted itself halfway through. It's true that it could have been a lot worse, but this is exactly what I expected. It gets a sort of Whitney Houston style treatment that turns it into some sort of earnest Christmas song (just a few notches up from Cliff Richard's "Mistletoe and Wine"). Fortunately, I'm not using a television at present. Now all I have to do is avoid supermarkets that play music, and pubs with juke-boxes.
Bah humbug! John E
Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 2:57 am
by Birdonawire
Well John, I bet you will be glad to hear her version of Hallelujah will be available for download by midnight tonight!!! The X-Factor machine is truly a well oiled one. The finalists obviously pre-recorded their versions. And considering the amount of airplay it will get, I'm sure the term 'overkill' will be an understatement over the coming weeks.
Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:06 am
by stargazer61
Well, you can call me biased but there is only one Hallelujah for me and that is by Mr Leonard Cohen!
I did watch the X-factor. It wasn't as bad as I feared (apart from the overblown production and the choirs) but I don't think any of the singers has the slightest idea about what the lyrics could possibly mean...it was merely 'a song'. However, it has been a fabulous year for Leonard.
Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:18 am
by IrishMar
Yes Paula, I too am totally biased, Leonard wins!
Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:24 am
by Habie
I've never been a 'purist' - just passionate about LC's music for 30 years. Hallelujah means a lot to me - that and FBR have a direct line to loss and suffering in my own life and always move me.
Tonight I expected to be horrified - the Cowell Power Ballad X Factor blender is surely about as close as you can get to The Opposite of Leonard Cohen, no?
And yet, and yet... a beautiful song sung by a beautiful voice ... even if the singer/arranger doesn't connect to the lyrics in a visceral way ... is still a beautiful song.
(I mean Alexandra of course - couldn't sit through the boy band version and was shocked at how bad Diana's version - see You Tube - is).
Leonard says how much he enjoys female covers of his songs, and at the risk of making the Elder Statesmen of this website choke on their night caps, I think he might just have been touched by Alex's vocals tonight (especially the second time, when she sang through tears and ticker tape).
If you listened to her second live rendition, I don't think she made 'cold and broken Hallelujah' sound triumphal. She was stuck in 'power ballad' Whitney mode, but still gave the words a tinge of hurt. (Or was that just me, because they've soundtracked my life?)
I was impressed - a young woman who's just won a vulgar manufactured contest in a studio full of falling confetti and dollar signs, being forced to sing Hallelujah live - surely she must by definition ruin such a quiet sensual prayer of a song?
But she didn't.
She made me cry. If that makes me a musical lightweight and Cohen-Impurist, so be it.
Good luck to her (voice). x
Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:35 am
by scorp
John Etherington wrote:Out of some perverse curiosity, I've just googled a video of Alexandra's "Hallelujah". Fortunately, it aborted itself halfway through. It's true that it could have been a lot worse, but this is exactly what I expected. It gets a sort of Whitney Houston style treatment that turns it into some sort of earnest Christmas song (just a few notches up from Cliff Richard's "Mistletoe and Wine"). Fortunately, I'm not using a television at present. Now all I have to do is avoid supermarkets that play music, and pubs with juke-boxes.
Bah humbug! John E
where is it? i can't see it on google [search] or youtube
but found a snippet on the bbc site [tho not via google]
first, she's speechless, then...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7782054.stm
Re: Hallelujah Christmas number one AND two?
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:50 am
by scorp
Paula wrote:That was what I thought too Hydriot. If I thought Leonard was going to get his royalties it would make the whole x-factor element that less painful.
Having said that the kudos of having a Christmas No. 1 penned by Leonard would be the icing on the cake to end a year in Britain where he has reclaimed Hallelujah at every concert I went to.
Leonard version is in my opinion the best version of Hallelujah and it always will be.
a bit of the winner here...after she's speechless and seemingly near collapse:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7782054.stm
Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:51 am
by John Etherington
Go to:
http://xfactor.itv.com/videos/video-det ... 200634.htm Click on Alexandra Burke, then after a "Crunchy Nut" commercial (!), it should pop up on the screen. Actually, I've just watched the second half...it's all melodrama, with the crowd punching the air stadium-style. The song will now presumably be sung in many a drunken midnight choir for the next few weeks.
Cheers, John E
Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:58 am
by ladydi
Of course, in America we are not able to watch the X-factor and perhaps that is not such a bad thing. However I will try to check out Alexandra on YouTube. I do have to admit (and believe me, this is embarassing) that last winter I reluctantly watched someone named Jason with dreadlocks on American Idol because several people at work followed it. He sang Hallelujah. I was mesmerised. Not by the person, but the song. Next day I went on to YouTube and discovered Jeff Buckley. That same day Hallelujah was the most EVER requested song on I-tunes...the JB version! But...I also saw this 1980's German tv version with Leonard. Thought, oh what the heck, he's the songwriter...I'll check him out. Well...the rest is history!
I had known about Leonard for decades as I am Canadian, but had known his songs only through covers. Suddenly the LC world opened up and there were cd's...dvd's...books of poetry...works of art...the forum...and a whole new experience of life and love and faith!
Perhaps...just perhaps....this will happen to one, or hundreds, in the next few days. Sometimes the quite prosaic can morph into the quite sublime. Hopefully ONE person will discover the true essence of Leonard's poetry, but hopefully many many more will be led to the source!
Diana~
Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:58 am
by scorp
John Etherington wrote:Go to:
http://xfactor.itv.com/videos/video-det ... 200634.htm Click on Alexandra Burke, then after a "Crunchy Nut" commercial (!), it should pop up on the screen. Actually, I've just watched the second half...it's all melodrama, with the crowd punching the air stadium-style. The song will now presumably be sung in many a drunken midnight choir for the next few weeks.
Cheers, John E
between crunchy nuts...and midnight choirs

Hmmm, there's a song in that, lol.
if you didn't see my edit in my last post. more drama with alexandra seemingly ready to collapse at one point:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7782054.stm
Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 4:20 am
by ladydi
Just watched Alexandra. Great voice! She did deserve to win, but no one is the "owner" of the song more than Leonard! His emotion is so open and raw. A 20 year old is only mouthing the words and her talent is in the ability to do so.
Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 4:24 am
by ladydi
Oh no John...I missed the "Crunchy Nut" commercial. Will check for that tomorrow

Re: And the X-Factor winner is...
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 5:28 am
by gingermop
Well... this is a song that will stand up to anything....
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=X0zxTdobf70
Re: Hallelujah for X Factor Finalists - Who gets royalties?
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 5:36 am
by gingermop
John Etherington wrote:I guess it's now only a matter of time before football supporters adopt it a a chant for their team.
John, that already happened over a year ago. The song was altered to use the phrase "Mark Viduka" (a premier league footballer), often sung in the terraces. A version was sanctioned and recorded as a single.
If you missed it, so did a lot of people: you shouldn't be so concerned about whatever folks use this song for... if you write a classic, this is what happens. To me, it's kind of nice, so long as LC is credited as the author.
G x