People who saw the Watchmen movie will recognize this song, though not this version of it. I like Waits’s Cohen’s* version from the movie, but Buckley’s here completely blows it away. The minimalist feel wouldn’t have worked in the movie, but it’s one of those songs where you want to close your eyes and let your imagination see what it can come up with. Since there’s no video (just the picture of Buckley), you can try this at your computer desk!
Here’s the one from the movie. No video, because this is a family blog and well, YouTube won’t let me.
{Buckley song via Outside the Beltway, from whom I “borrowed” their Late Night OTB concept for Hit Coffee Weekend}
* – I swore that I corrected this before posting it, but I must not have saved the change when I did.
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4 Responses to Hit Coffee Weekend: Halleluja
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I’m not a big fan of Jeff Buckley, but I loved his father’s first few albums, before he started doing the drug-influenced, experimental stuff. Speaking of which, there was a great, if macabre, line from Jeff Buckley’s mother in an interview I saw once: “I’m probably the only rock and roll mother ever who has a death certificate that says that no drugs or alcohol were involved.”
I know I once mentioned this song my Metric, but it didn’t occur to me to post a youtube link to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoK63Bk7pgw&feature=related
Buckley’s version is by far my favorite. The song in all its versions is overused in movies, though. I suspected that when I heard it in “Lord of War,” and when I heard it in the Watchmen I just rolled my eyes.
Leonard Cohen, the author, has a horrible second version I found on a “Greatest Hits” album. It may have been recorded live. All the depressing verses are skipped and it ends on a weird positive note. I think he even added a new happy verse. The message turned into, “Hallelujah, ain’t love great.”
Brandon, I thought Buckley had been drinking when he went for that fatal swim.
Not according to this. Though when I look through my cynic’s glasses, I do notice that the article attributes the claim that he hadn’t been drinking to his estate, and not (directly) to any official report.