Ew.

[msconduct]

Today I happened across a music vid from somebody called Alexandra Burke, crucifying Hallelujah. She's apparently one of those gladiatorial singing contest winners, and she has an astonishing voice, but it was less a case of missing the song's point and more of the point dwindling to a speck as it flapped away over the horizon. My favourite part was the sexaysexay little shoulder twitch as she sings the last bit. Oh, God.

New rule. Before you get a license to cover Hallelujah, you first have to prove that at some point love has crushed you. Utterly. To a soul-crunching, job-losing, twelve-step-requiring powder. Otherwise, back away. Now.

Comments

[isaacfreeman.livejournal.com]

Ye gods. That is fantastically bad.

I'm still trying to decide though, whether it's better or worse than the version Leonard Cohen himself sung in the 1980s, as used in Watchmen. Is it better or worse when the person murdering a song is the original songwriter?

[msconduct.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to figure that out with regard to Cohen's rendition too. My theory is that Hallelujah is a special case song in that the true version has yet to be created. There hasn't been a version yet that I thought did it justice.

[isaacfreeman.livejournal.com]

I believe Jeff Buckley's version is widely considered definitive.

[msconduct.livejournal.com]

I find it the tiniest bit sugary.

[isaacfreeman.livejournal.com]

I'm not seeing it myself, but fair enough. It did get overused on TV programmes.