WWTBAM Bored

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... 82-w449792

No, no, no, no, no

ghostjmf wrote:No, no, no, no, no

You're thinking of Ringo.

I just wanted to say out loud that I have always thought "Hallelujah" was about sex and that I think it's little creepy they play it on TV shows when someone dies.

Except kd lang can sing it anytime she wants and for any reason, cause damn.

There are 7 or more verses Cohen has sung at one time or another. Taken from various albums there are 7, I think. I have files saved but can't link from this tablet. At any rate, at funerals people generally leave the "Bathsheba/Delilah w/ a little S&M thrown in" 2nd verse out, which they probably shouldn't because the 1st verse *is* about King David, & the "dove of sex" verse out, which I would definitely leave out if I were singing it.

The Buckley version kept the "dove of sex" verse but left out the verse Cohen always closed with.

Haven't heard Lang version but will play it when I'm not paying for connect time.

Buckley learned song from John Cale recording. Cale had asked Cohen for lyrics & was faxed "15 verses", according to story.

While Cohen was writing song, friends found him in his hotel room "in his underwear, bsnging his head on the floor, surrounded by 80 verses".

Its not easy being a poet.

For some.

Reportedly, Cohen suffered from severe depression until the last 10 or 20 years of his life

I tend to think the "15 verses" & "80 verses" were really "15 "pages" & "80 *pages*" but maybe not.

The producer of the album "Various Positions", on which "Hallelujah" 1st appeared, who in interviews allows he tweaked the tune "a little", knew they had a hit, but the label didn't & didn't even put the album out in the US. (It was eventually released here on a tiny label.) So he never signed the contract to get paid as arranger for future royalties from cover versions. He's philosophical about it.

ghostjmf wrote:There are 7 or more verses Cohen has sung at one time or another. Taken from various albums there are 7, I think. I have files saved but can't link from this tablet. At any rate, at funerals people generally leave the "Bathsheba/Delilah w/ a little S&M thrown in" 2nd verse out, which they probably shouldn't because the 1st verse *is* about King David, & the "dove of sex" verse out, which I would definitely leave out if I were singing it.

The Buckley version kept the "dove of sex" verse but left out the verse Cohen always closed with.

Haven't heard Lang version but will play it when I'm not paying for connect time.

Buckley learned song from John Cale recording. Cale had asked Cohen for lyrics & was faxed "15 verses", according to story.

While Cohen was writing song, friends found him in his hotel room "in his underwear, bsnging his head on the floor, surrounded by 80 verses".

Its not easy being a poet. For some.

Reportedly, Cohen suffered from severe depression until the last 10 or 20 years of his life

I tend to think the "15 verses" & "80 verses" were really "15 *pages" & "80 *pages*" but maybe not.

I believe the video I linked to has all the verses.

This is a fascinating article: There Is a Crack in Everything, That’s How the Light Gets In: Leonard Cohen on Democracy and Its Redemptions

here's one of those "many verses" links: http://rsrevision.com/hallelujah.htm

an excellent article on "Hallelujah", the writing/recording of: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... n-20121203


This article ends w/ a clip of Cohen singing "Save the Last Dance For Me" at the end of his massive last world tour: http://theweek.com/articles/661387/leon ... hallelujah

It just cracks me up. And is very gracious.

WBUR's On Point radio show today did a program on Cohen, interviewing Alan Light, who wrote a book on the song "Hallelujah", & John Lissauer, who produced "New Skin for the Old Ceremony" & "Various Positions", the album w/ "Dance Me to the End of Love" & "Hallujah" on it. They also played excerpts from a Terry Gross interview w/ Cohen I hope she'll replay on Fresh Air.