Thursday, March 15, 2012

...the baffled king composing hallelujah

Yes, I know you've heard dozens of versions.  k. d. lang is my favorite.  This is the song and hers is the voice I want to hear over the headphones in the middle of the night when I've misplace my center, as I seemed to do yesterday.


In this week's "You Rock" Hall of Fame, Leonard Cohen joins Lynda Barry.  Simply assume they are there every week.   I wish (among so many other things) that I'd written, "...the baffled king composing hallelujah."

Uploaded by on Jan 10, 2009
kd lang's performance of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame induction of Leonard Cohen in 2006. Be sure to watch the entire performance. Leonard is in the audience. I hope you will watch Leonard's induction as well, which I also posted.

11 comments:

Jayne said...

Very, very pretty version. Although I do love the voice of Cohen. And his story, too. ;)

Thank you for sharing this, Marylinn.

Radish King said...

lovelovelove kd. thank you.

Erin in Morro Bay said...

Yes! kd's interpretation is simply the best. I was visiting a close friend a several years ago who was contemplating suicide and the album with this song was playing while we sat at her kitchen table and talked and talked. She has turned that corner and is still with us. I can never hear kd singing this without being back in that kitchen - and tears (of gratitude for the outcome) on my face.
Erin

37paddington said...

that song slays me every time. all versions. this one, especially.

Marylinn Kelly said...

Jayne - Well, Leonard Cohen. All I can say is there is something, as I'm sure we each respond more strongly to certain resonances, in her version that lets me hear/see the song more vividly. And, Leonard Cohen. xo

Marylinn Kelly said...

Rebecca - You are so welcome. I'd never heard this until a few months ago, and wondered where I'd been all my life. xo

Marylinn Kelly said...

Erin - Even without such a story as you've shared, the song easily brings me to tears. I am so very glad for your friend, for you, and the profound gift of music in our lives. Thank you for telling us of this. xo

Marylinn Kelly said...

Angella - No wonder so many have recorded it. I wish I could sing, for I would, too. But with k.d. I think I've found my version. xo

beth coyote said...

So my favorite too.

beth coyote said...

Oh, and her version of Roy Orbison's Cryin.

You must listen.

I heard her do it live. Whoa.

Marylinn Kelly said...

Beth - I know so little about the mechanics of music that I feel mute trying to say the ways in which this version reaches me as no other. And I will go and listen to "Crying." Thank you. xo