Jump to content

It’s rather quiet now


Fleer

Recommended Posts

5 minutes ago, abacab said:

Well if you play only the white keys you can switch between C Major and A minor! ?

Hey maybe we can repurpose this:

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Ambient Music

 

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/30/2022 at 8:36 PM, InstrEd said:

Hey maybe we can repurpose this:

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Ambient Music

 

That song's lyrics are brilliant enough that it deserves it's own thread and I'd love that discussion. I love the song, it's one of my all time favorite songs. 

But so often people here the "hallelujahs" and mistake it as  religious song and don't pay attention to ALL of the lyrics  don't realize that it's actually a song about lust and adultery.   And yet, because of the word hallelujah being in the song, this song sometimes ends up  being performed in churches or in a viral video, performed as a duet by a father and her young daughter. Very strange. 

Edited by PavlovsCat
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, InstrEd said:

Hey maybe we can repurpose this:

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Ambient Music

 

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/secret-chord-leonard-cohens-hallelujah-music/

For context:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah_(Leonard_Cohen_song)

"When at age 50 Cohen first recorded the song, he described it as "rather joyous", and said that it came from "a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way, but with enthusiasm, with emotion." He later said "there is a religious hallelujah, but there are many other ones. When one looks at the world, there’s only one thing to say, and it’s hallelujah""

Edited by abacab
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@abacabthat quote you included at the end is a big part of what always made this song lyrically brilliant to me. So many people hear the word "hallelujah" in the song and don't understand the way Cohen intended it and the entire context of its use in the song.  @InstrEd, I give a tip of the hat to the church music director (I think that's what she is, as someone else is directing the choir) in the video you shared for her discernment. 

I love songwriting, both the music and the lyrics and always thought this song was brilliant and found Cohen a brilliant songwriter. But while  Cohen wrote great songs, but he wasn't a very good singer and I always found it took someone else covering his songs to realize their greatness.  Cohen's original version back in the 80s from "Various Positions " isn't very compelling. IMO.  It wasn't until 1994 when I heard Jeff Buckley's cover on my favorite radio station that I felt the song and felt it had been given the treatment it deserved. For me that was the definitive version of the song. An interesting article on the song: 

https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/how-leonard-cohens-hallelujah-brilliantly-mingled-*****-religion-194516/

An even deeper dive into the lyrics.  

https://forward.com/culture/music/469890/leonard-cohen-hallelujah-shrek-jewish-jeff-buckley-alan-light-kabbalah/

Edited by PavlovsCat
Readability
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, PavlovsCat said:

that quote you included at the end is a big part of what always made this song lyrically brilliant to me. So many people hear the word "hallelujah" in the song and don't understand the way Cohen intended it and the entire context of its use in the song.

The fact that it touched so many artists from all walks of life in so many ways is reflected in the many number of covers and interpretations it inspired over the years.

For the Wikipedia article linked previously:

"Since 1991, "Hallelujah" has been performed by a wide variety of singers: over 300, and in various languages. Statistics from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Canadian Recording Industry Association, the Australian Recording Industry Association, and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, show that, by late 2008, more than five million copies of the song sold in CD format.It has been the subject of a BBC Radio documentary, a book, and been in the soundtracks of numerous films and television programs. Different interpretations of the song may include different verses, out of the over 80 verses Cohen originally wrote."

Also:

Meaning of "Hallelujah"

      This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled. But there are moments when we can reconcile and embrace the whole mess, and that's what I mean by 'Hallelujah.'

—Leonard Cohen

 

Edited by abacab
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...