[i]MY[/i] "Danny Boy"

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:46 pm

Bloomfield wrote:And David & Bathsheba haven't been mentioned. ("You saw her bathing on the roof...")

Thanks for that. If someone else hadn't mentioned it soon, I would have.

I like the connection between the first and second verses ...

"The baffled king composing Hallelujah ...

... her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you ... ."

(overthrew the king; no worldly power is greater than desire... ref. Eliot Spitzer)

Edited to add ...

Also, he goes from the third person to the second person, speaking to the listener as if the listener is King David, perhaps to suggest that whatever happened to David's kingly power under the influence of desire happens to us all.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Ronbo · Post by **Ronbo** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:55 pm

Jerry Freeman wrote:
Bloomfield wrote:And David & Bathsheba haven't been mentioned. ("You saw her bathing on the roof...")

... her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you ... ."

(overthrew the king; no worldly power is greater than desire... ref. Eliot Spitzer)

Best wishes,
Jerry

Maybe the desire for power, which seems to be the greatest urge on the part of these politicians.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:58 pm

Ronbo wrote:
Jerry Freeman wrote:
Bloomfield wrote:And David & Bathsheba haven't been mentioned. ("You saw her bathing on the roof...")

... her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you ... ."

(overthrew the king; no worldly power is greater than desire... ref. Eliot Spitzer)

Best wishes,
Jerry
Maybe the desire for power, which seems to be the greatest urge on the part of these politicians.

I was thinking the implication is, lust overwhelms the desire for power. That seems to be the case with a great many politicians and high officials (at least male ones, anyway). And you know, it's about the same with the rest of the animal kingdom. If you want to get a buck to abandon caution so you can shoot him, just waft some scent of doe in heat in his direction and line up your shot.

Best wishes,
Jerry

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:31 am

Yes, I forgot about the conflation of David and Sampson in the second verse.
Then there's the verse that says "Remember when I moved in you/
The holy dove was moving too..." which brings to mind the Song of Solomon.

And Cohen's last verse, which is often left out, ends with a very common
Christian sentiment:

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

i.e., even if you didn't get it right in this life, there's an afterlife, yada, yada...
I like the "Lord of Song" image, too. It brings us back around to the first verse.

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:10 am

It's a perfect song.

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:19 am

dubhlinn wrote: I am not a Christian nor a fan of Samson and his life..the rest is probably dependent on both of those qualifications..

The Christian imagery is in Suzanne; this one's Jewish.

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:55 pm

There was a time when I thought that Hallelujah was my secret. I bought Various Positions in '85 when it came out, after having been turned on to Cohen by the Harriet the English teacher at the alternative High School in Toronto I'd attended for my grade 13* year. I can remember being blown away by the beautiful but enigmatic and haunting song that opened the B side*.

The album sank without a trace, at least as far as I was concerned. I learn from wikipedia today that Cohen's US label didn't even release the record in the US until 1995. I assume fanatics could have got it as an import, and plenty must have, but I heard nothing at all about it.

I added Hallelujah to fill up tape time whenever I recorded Songs from a Room or Songs of Leonard Cohen to cassette, either for personal walkman duty or for friends. I played it for my friends, trying (if it was that time during the evening) to explain why it was so great. No one cared.

In '87 former Cohen backing-singer Jennifer Warnes launched her solo career with Famous Blue Raincoat, an album of Cohen's best-known songs. The record got a lot of airplay in Canada; and the nation began waking up to the wealth that was Leonard. "He writes great songs" the popular wisdom said, "as long as someone else is singing them". Hallelujah wasn't one of the tracks.

More than a decade later, I found the '95 tribute album Tower of Song in a girlfriend's CD collection. 'Hey', I thought picking it up. 'I know which one I'd pick. I wonder if anyone else liked it enough to cover?'

I was aghast when I saw that Bono was singing Hallelujah, and was promptly horrified when I heard it: Bono covered this sublime song in a horrible falsetto; one of the worst falsettos (and definitely the worst cover of H.) I've ever had to endure.

In the late 90s (perhaps as a millenium project), one Canadian newspaper released a list of the what it claimed were the greatest Canadian songs of all time. To my amazement, Hallelujah was #1. I wasn't the song's only canadian fan any longer.

*ask your father if you don't know what this means.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:54 am

s1m0n wrote:There was a time when I thought that Hallelujah was my secret. I bought Various Positions in '85 when it came out, after having been turned on to Cohen by the Harriet the English teacher at the alternative High School in Toronto I'd attended for my grade 13* year. I can remember being blown away by the beautiful but enigmatic and haunting song that opened the B side*.

The album sank without a trace, at least as far as I was concerned. I learn from wikipedia today that Cohen's US label didn't even release the record in the US until 1995. I assume fanatics could have got it as an import, and plenty must have, but I heard nothing at all about it.

I added Hallelujah to fill up tape time whenever I recorded Songs from a Room or Songs of Leonard Cohen to cassette, either for personal walkman duty or for friends. I played it for my friends, trying (if it was that time during the evening) to explain why it was so great. No one cared.

In '87 former Cohen backing-singer Jennifer Warnes launched her solo career with Famous Blue Raincoat, an album of Cohen's best-known songs. The record got a lot of airplay in Canada; and the nation began waking up to the wealth that was Leonard. "He writes great songs" the popular wisdom said, "as long as someone else is singing them". Hallelujah wasn't one of the tracks.

More than a decade later, I found the '95 tribute album Tower of Song in a girlfriend's CD collection. 'Hey', I thought picking it up. 'I know which one I'd pick. I wonder if anyone else liked it enough to cover?'

I was aghast when I saw that Bono was singing Hallelujah, and was promptly horrified when I heard it: Bono covered this sublime song in a horrible falsetto; one of the worst falsettos (and definitely the worst cover of H.) I've ever had to endure.

In the late 90s (perhaps as a millenium project), one Canadian newspaper released a list of the what it claimed were the greatest Canadian songs of all time. To my amazement, Hallelujah was #1. I wasn't the song's only canadian fan any longer.

*ask your father if you don't know what this means.

I picked up Various Position on LP in 85, I think, whenever it was released in Europe. While I liked Hallelujah, I didn't think it was such a revelation. Wonderful song, of course, and I like the lines everyone likes, but not significantly above some other Cohen songs. Except that it can be turned into a pop song more easily. On Various Positions, which is a bit of a cross-grained album, my top choices would be If It Be Your Will, The Law, and The Night Comes On. Hallelujah, too, of course.

There was the European tribute album, I'm Your Fan, long before Tower of Song (and long after Jennifer Warnes), and John Cale's cover of Hallelujah on that has defined the subsequent covers more than Cohen's original, although I wonder why people don't use a full chorus like Cohen did at times.

About Bono's version: I thought that was one of the musically more interesting covers on Tower of Song, which overall is amazingly bland. (Hearing Billy Joel connecting with his inner Leonard is not exactly interesting listening in my book.) Bono took the most risk on that album, and I like the approach of bringing out the tortured, broken voice of the lyrics in the music. The song isn't served by giving it the air of a fireside chat. Bono didn't fall into the trap of thinking all a Cohen cover needs is someone who can sing, and he actually speaks the verses rather than sing them, which is sort of a cool tribute to Cohen right there. The falsetto is jaring, but in a good way. "I did my best/it wasn't much/I couldn't feel/so I learned to touch." And having the last trombone in the song is also pretty cool.

Turning the song into a hymn, like Allison Crow and many others, now that's jarring.

Anyway, overall I think covering Cohen is about as difficult as covering the Beatles.

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:43 pm

Bloomfield wrote:...
Anyway, overall I think covering Cohen is about as difficult as covering the Beatles.

Indeed..

although I would substitute pointless for difficult.

Slan,
D.

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:13 am

dubhlinn wrote:
Bloomfield wrote:...
Anyway, overall I think covering Cohen is about as difficult as covering the Beatles.
Indeed..

although I would substitute pointless for difficult.

Slan,
D.

Fiona Apple did a remarkable job (if I may say so myself) covering a Beatle: http://youtube.com/watch?v=8gLWTtlMwo4

J'ai guru deva om!

chas · Post by **chas** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:51 am

Some Muppets doing Danny Boy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU&NR=1