Alexandra Burke for Christmas No 1!

[jamesjesusangleton]

Just because I am fed up, everywhere I go, of people complaining that she has no right to perform Hallelujah. It's only a pop song. And you'd think all these Leonard Cohen fans would be glad their boy stands to make some money out of it. I'm sure he's not complaining ... (and I'd take Alexandra over Jeff Buckley - the most self-indulgent, boring gig I ever went to - every time)

[mike]

i don't like either, but what the hell. it can be like when the pet shop boys covering elvis stopped fairytale in new york from getting to christmas number one, right?

oh, wait, i'm not sure i even give a shit....no. no, i don't.

xo

[bartman]

Leave it...

The Burke version is sacrilege! I don't care what she's been through, she shouldn't have been allowed to get her hands on it!

[jamesjesusangleton]

Dec 18, 2008 8:45:42 GMT -5 bartman said:

Leave it...

The Burke version is sacrilege! I don't care what she's been through, she shouldn't have been allowed to get her hands on it!

It's a pop song. It's not sacrilege. It's a pop song. Nothing more. Nothing less.

[bartman]

But that's the point I'm making - her version is just a pop song, while Buckley's is a transcendental experience. OK, so that's an exaggeration, but Jeff's means a lot to a lot of people and they understandably don't want their feeling trampled on by some corporate bohemoth in high-waisted trousers.

[mike]

well, i know for a fact that there were leonard cohen fans who were pretty pissed off about the fact that jeff buckley changed the lyrics and ruined the song's narrative, too. suck it up, dude.

[bartman]

Cohen's fans might have been but Cohen himself approved it. And Buckley didn't change the lyrics, he used John Cale's version, for which the lyrics came straight from Cohen's hand-written note books.

There are over 80 verses, and Cohen's happy for people to choose which ones they want to use.

[mike]

i've not heard any word from cohen in opposition to the new version.

this whole idea that a cover ruins another cover is so silly, though. listen to yourself. a transcendental experience?

[bartman]

I had my tongue in my cheek when I said that, couldn't you tell?

[mike]

Dec 18, 2008 10:15:44 GMT -5 bartman said:

Cohen's fans might have been but Cohen himself approved it. And Buckley didn't change the lyrics, he used John Cale's version, for which the lyrics came straight from Cohen's hand-written note books.

There are over 80 verses, and Cohen's happy for people to choose which ones they want to use.

thanks, internet!

did you know that the cale version was recorded for a cohen tribute album called, wait for it, 'i'm your fan'!

[mike]

Dec 18, 2008 10:19:08 GMT -5 bartman said:

I had my tongue in my cheek when I said that, couldn't you tell?

haha, yeah. i'm really just trying to make the point that if anyone's fans should be getting annoyed it's cohen's, not buckley's.

i guess it's good that buckley got to sing a brilliant song while he was still around, though, because his own songwriting skills were...um...still in the fairly early stages of development when he passed away.

[bartman]

I did - I have a vinyl copy of it at home!

[bartman]

Don't start dissing Buckley or I'll start to get really upset

[mike]

you big jessie.

[theblondette]

Mike, are you trying to make up for that "sorry" elsewhere?

[bartman]

I know, pathetic isn't it...

[motörben]

Dec 18, 2008 7:08:56 GMT -5 jamesjesusangleton said:

Just because I am fed up, everywhere I go, of people complaining that she has no right to perform Hallelujah. It's only a pop song. And you'd think all these Leonard Cohen fans would be glad their boy stands to make some money out of it. I'm sure he's not complaining ... (and I'd take Alexandra over Jeff Buckley - the most self-indulgent, boring gig I ever went to - every time)

Bit of fun either way isn't it? As far as I know nobody's issued a fatwah on Danniiiiii Minogue. "The version of the song I like is better than the version of the song you like" is a just a bit of daft festive fun. Lighten up, granddad! xo

[mike]

Dec 18, 2008 10:27:56 GMT -5 theblondette said:

Mike, are you trying to make up for that "sorry" elsewhere?

maybe.

[jamesjesusangleton]

Jeff Buckley at the Highbury Garage in 1994 was one of the dullest gigs I've ever seen. Unremitting tedium from start to finish.

[gushingblood]

I actually felt sick the first time I heard Burke's version.
She completly takes a shit on the song, I suppose you can't blame her cos she's a puppet, blame Simon Cowen or whoever is in control of her.

[mike]

wow, matt, you're really...uh...hostile.

[jamesjesusangleton]

Dec 18, 2008 13:10:20 GMT -5 @gushingblood said:

I actually felt sick the first time I heard Burke's version.
She completly takes a shit on the song, I suppose you can't blame her cos she's a puppet, blame Simon Cowen or whoever is in control of her.

Maybe it's a function of my extreme age, but that strikes me as the most melodramatic overreaction I've heard in a very long time. It's a bloody pop song.

[gushingblood]

Correction:
It's a bloody good pop song.
Well it was before she got her claws into it.

[caz]

Dec 20, 2008 7:26:45 GMT -5 jamesjesusangleton said:

Dec 18, 2008 13:10:20 GMT -5 @gushingblood said:

I actually felt sick the first time I heard Burke's version.
She completly takes a shit on the song, I suppose you can't blame her cos she's a puppet, blame Simon Cowen or whoever is in control of her.

Maybe it's a function of my extreme age, but that strikes me as the most melodramatic overreaction I've heard in a very long time. It's a bloody pop song.

It might just be a song, but songs mean something to us, that's why we're all here posting on this message board right? Because there's a bunch of songs from this band that have touched us all in different and meaningful ways. So I think people should be able to have strong reactions to music. It matters a lot to people. (If that makes sense...)

[gushingblood]

Exactly