Ken Middleton
Well-known member
Something has been bugging me for a while.
My question is this. Why is it that no-one seems to listen to Leonard Cohen's version of his song Hallelujah before recording it on the ukulele? After all, he wrote it.
But every ukulele cover I have heard on YouTube seems to be based on someone else's version. And as pretty much everyone in the music industry seems to have recorded it, listening to one of these, often more popular versions, is not a problem.
For what it is worth, it is my opinion that none of these professional covers even come close to the power, humour and sheer joy of Cohen's original. For instance, they all sing the chorus an octave too low, and in that mamby-pamby, mard-arsed way that absolutely drips with imitation sincerity. For goodness sake, "Hallelujah" means "Praise the Lord". It surely should be sung in the loud, triumphant, declamatory style that Cohen uses.
Anyway, what I am asking is: why does everyone choose to do covers of these ghastly professional covers, instead of basing their recording on the original?
Hopefully this will initiate a bit of a discussion and maybe the thread won't be terminated.
Please post your versions, past and present, on this thread. If you all do, it will be a very long discussion.
Apologies, everyone. Occasionally, things niggle me and it is sometimes good to provoke a healthy argument (sorry, I may mean "debate").
My question is this. Why is it that no-one seems to listen to Leonard Cohen's version of his song Hallelujah before recording it on the ukulele? After all, he wrote it.
But every ukulele cover I have heard on YouTube seems to be based on someone else's version. And as pretty much everyone in the music industry seems to have recorded it, listening to one of these, often more popular versions, is not a problem.
For what it is worth, it is my opinion that none of these professional covers even come close to the power, humour and sheer joy of Cohen's original. For instance, they all sing the chorus an octave too low, and in that mamby-pamby, mard-arsed way that absolutely drips with imitation sincerity. For goodness sake, "Hallelujah" means "Praise the Lord". It surely should be sung in the loud, triumphant, declamatory style that Cohen uses.
Anyway, what I am asking is: why does everyone choose to do covers of these ghastly professional covers, instead of basing their recording on the original?
Hopefully this will initiate a bit of a discussion and maybe the thread won't be terminated.
Please post your versions, past and present, on this thread. If you all do, it will be a very long discussion.
Apologies, everyone. Occasionally, things niggle me and it is sometimes good to provoke a healthy argument (sorry, I may mean "debate").
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