Folks reading this blog know that I'm not the religious sort. I must, however, admit to a kind of fascination with the energy that can be found in religious music... and in music inspired by religious thought. The video below is of K.D. Lang offering a live performance of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.
Viewing that one caused me to remember a past favorite, performed by Elvis Presley and recorded in 1973 in which a bit of a similar tune was incorporated. Elvis and K.D. look eerily alike.
Cohen is said to have been such a perfectionist that the original version of the song consisted of over 80 verses. He admits to not being a singer, but rather a poet and songwriter, and the song was apparently intended for Bob Dylan. But Dylan never recorded it. He performed it live a few times, and there are a few bootleg copies of that available.
Cohen recorded two versions himself, and there is video of him performing his own work as guest artist at other's concerts. This is my favorite done by the artist.
The song has about as many variations as the Kingsmen's Louie Louie. A commenter to Shadowfax's post left this link to a paper with several embedded WAVE versions and some history. Very interesting.
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3 Comments:
Just scary that I am now reading this post - the evening of 6th April - and I posted about Hallejuh AFTER you did.
http://jumblerant.blogspot.com/2009/04/hallelujah.html
Spooky eh?
Yes, indeed it is ironic, but you have more versions... including a Dylan that I hadn't known about.
Good job!
Just last night I went to a KD Lang concert with my father and she sang that -- Dad recorded it on his camera. We were both really pleased, 'cos we love that song and are big Cohen fans.
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