Hallelujah (the song)

[Skydog]

*Posted from my iPhone*

LOL!

[brevity]

The mistaken interpretation of "Hallelujah" has taken hold and is now part of the song's legacy. It will continue to be performed for purposes not originally intended, and some people will shake their heads at it. That's the new reality.

It may not help that the last appropriate use of the song was probably in that weird Watchmen love scene, and the general public laughed at it.

Last week the local news anchors in a feel good end segment were praising the message of Lennon’s Imagine. Think they were including the imagine no religion part?

I want to say that a country artist changed that line to "And there's religion too," but I could be mis-remembering. There is this:

Cee Lo Green criticised for changing lyrics to John Lennon's Imagine

"Imagine there's no heaven," he sang, "it's easy if you try." But things got trickier around the one-minute mark. "Imagine there's no countries/ It isn't hard to do /Nothing to kill or die for," Green crooned, "and all religion is true."

A Perfect Circle sticks to Lennon's lyrics but makes them sound bleaker:



Notes:

1. I chose not to post the band's intended video of news clips because it's too graphic and political.
2. When the lead singer (Maynard James Keenan, who you may know from Tool, but not 1930s economic theory) sings "Imagine all the people" it sounds like he's bemoaning overpopulation, which I'm not sure Lennon was going for.

[rsvman]

Big fan of Tool and of A Perfect Circle. Keenan may have kept the lyrics, but he took a lot of liberty with the melody and the chord progression.
Still, I enjoyed it. Thanks for posting.

[bundabergdevil]

The mistaken interpretation of "Hallelujah" has taken hold and is now part of the song's legacy. It will continue to be performed for purposes not originally intended, and some people will shake their heads at it. That's the new reality.

It may not help that the last appropriate use of the song was probably in that weird Watchmen love scene, and the general public laughed at it.



I want to say that a country artist changed that line to "And there's religion too," but I could be mis-remembering. There is this:

Cee Lo Green criticised for changing lyrics to John Lennon's Imagine



A Perfect Circle sticks to Lennon's lyrics but makes them sound bleaker:



Notes:

1. I chose not to post the band's intended video of news clips because it's too graphic and political.
2. When the lead singer (Maynard James Keenan, who you may know from Tool, but not 1930s economic theory) sings "Imagine all the people" it sounds like he's bemoaning overpopulation, which I'm not sure Lennon was going for.

Anyone “criticizing” CeeLo instantly torpedos their credibility.

[Skydog]

Damn. I had forgotten Cee Lo Green existed and I preferred it that way. Oh well, it wont take me long to get back to that state.

[curtis325]

Anyone “criticizing” CeeLo instantly torpedos their credibility.

Forget you!

[bundabergdevil]

Damn. I had forgotten Cee Lo Green existed and I preferred it that way. Oh well, it wont take me long to get back to that state.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! What did I just say?!?!

Forget you!

It gets better every time.

[OldPhiKap]

Crazy.

Is he Gone, Daddy, Gone?

[JasonEvans]

Forget you!

Ceelo should never have sold out and made a "safe for radio" version of that song. The original "F- You" was perfect!

[cato]

I saw that H.E.R. sang the Leonard Cohen song Hallelujah on the 9/11 memorial special. Do people really not know what the song is about? It's so completely off point and inappropriate for an occasion like that. I guess people think it's somehow religious or it fits because of the somber tone? Why would you sing a song about adultery, sex, lack of faith in God, and messed up relationships to commemorate 9/11 victims? Perhaps the most misused, misunderstood song of the last 25 years. Baffling.

There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?

And I remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove she was moving too
And every single breath we drew was Hallelujah

David and that secret chord. So inappropriate. And yet so biblical.

[ArkieDukie]

A young lady sang “Hallelujah” one Easter at my home church. I was embarrassed for her as I listened to what she was singing. I think she just thought it was a pretty song and assumed it was religious because of the title n

[cato]

My favorite Hallelujah was performed by Jeff Buckley, taken by the water too soon.

The lines that always got me were these, which while originally personal strike a chord with all of the violence unleashed on and since 9/11:

Well, maybe there’s a God above
As for me all I’ve ever learned from love
Is how to shoot somebody who outdrew you

[brevity]

A young lady sang “Hallelujah” one Easter at my home church. I was embarrassed for her as I listened to what she was singing.

ArkieDukie (low voice): Doesn't she understand the lyrics to the song?
Narrator: She didn't.

Just once it would be nice to see an unironic "Hallelujah" singer come to a sudden Michael Bluth realization.

I saw that H.E.R. sang the Leonard Cohen song Hallelujah on the 9/11 memorial special.

H.E.R.?

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

ArkieDukie (low voice): Doesn't she understand the lyrics to the song?
Narrator: She didn't.

Just once it would be nice to see an unironic "Hallelujah" singer come to a sudden Michael Bluth realization.





H.E.R.?

Triple sporks for AD references.

[aimo]

My favorite Hallelujah was performed by Jeff Buckley

Ditto! Especially haunting.

And, yes, once I actually listened to the WORDS, I wondered, How many people actual listen to what he's singing?!?!?

[bundabergdevil]

CeeLo’s version of Hallelujah is breathtaking in its splendor.

[Acymetric]

CeeLo’s version of Hallelujah is breathtaking in its splendor.

At this point I'm about 70% sure that Bundaberg is​ CeeLo.

[mkirsh]

Not to make this political, but the Kate McKinnon as HRC version on SNL always sticks out to me as a powerful version of this song. She is crazy talented.

[freshmanjs]

Not to make this political, but the Kate McKinnon as HRC version on SNL always sticks out to me as a powerful version of this song. She is crazy talented.

That was another highly inappropriate one. Hilary lost the election...lets sing about sex!

[bundabergdevil]

At this point I'm about 70% sure that Bundaberg is​ CeeLo.

We have never been seen in the same room together. So, there’s that.