Help with Hallelujah

linmag · Post by **linmag** » Sat May 17, 2003 2:03 pm

Is there anyone out there who can help me, please? I have just received a copy of an interview with Leonard, and someone has kindly added a cover version of Hallelujah to fill up the CD. Unfortunately, there is no playlist, so I have no idea who the artist is. It's a young man's voice, probably american, and he sings all the verses from both of Leonard's versions of the song to a simple piano accompaniment. Does anyone know who he is?

tomsakic · Post by **tomsakic** » Sat May 17, 2003 8:42 pm

On piano? I f it is not John Cale's version from I'm Your Fan tribute album (he done it firts that way), that can be Rufus Wainwright from Shrek soundtrack - he actually imitates Cale's style of doing that song... If I remember, Rufus' version was played in 2001 TNS interview, France's Radio Inter, "Cest Lenoir" show. If you tell me the name of interview, I will know whose cover it is:-)
tom

linmag · Post by **linmag** » Sun May 18, 2003 1:59 am

It's not part of the interview, Tom, it's just stuck on the end. The interview is the KCRW one on 3 March 1998, when they weren't even discussing cover versions. One thing I noticed is that he always sings 'you' where he should really pronounce it 'ya' to rhyme with halleluja. Does this help at all?

tomsakic · Post by **tomsakic** » Sun May 18, 2003 8:13 pm

That must be Cale then... I don't remember the song I must say, but I will check at home... Here's the tracklist, but that doesn't help either. My memory failed. This tracklist is from my trade site:

03.3.1998 KCRW Radio Interview
»Morning Becomes Eclectic«

01. "...Poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen"
02. The Future [from »The Future«]
03. "1992 work from Leonard Cohen, it’s the title piece... "
04. A Thousand Kisses Deep [poem]
05. "And the last line is? "
06. Quatrain [poem]
07. "When you read poetry of others..."
08. Dance Me To The End Of Love [from »More Best Of«]
09. "Leonard Cohen recorded live this track taken from... "
10. A song by Om Kalsoum
11. "Egyptian singer Om Kalsoum, our guest this hour is Leonard Cohen... "
12. Don’t Mean Anything [by Adam Cohen]
13. "Adam Cohen, from the forthcoming album called »Cry Ophelia«..."
14. Closing Time [From »The Future«]

jurica · Post by **jurica** » Sun May 18, 2003 9:36 pm

i'm listening cale's version as i write, and indeed he does pronounce you clearly and with an oooo at the end.
but i don't have wainwright version, so i can't compare.
cale pronounces 'holy dove' as if 'holy dark'.

linmag · Post by **linmag** » Mon May 19, 2003 2:26 am

That's the interview, Tom, although the track breaks are different on my copy. btw the title of the quatrain in your track 6 is 'Sorrows of the Elderly'.

Jurica: I just had another listen to my mystery track, and his pronunciation of 'dove' would match your description.

Does anyone know if John Cale is English? The more I listen to it, the more the pronunciation sounds english rather than american.

jurica · Post by **jurica** » Mon May 19, 2003 6:19 pm

this is from some john cale site, and offers understanding of his american/english pronunciation:

Cale was born in Wales, in 1942, and was practically a child prodigy as he rapidly learned music, even composing and performing on the BBC before even reaching his teens. He moved to New York in 1963, thanks to a scholarship...

you can check the rest out at: http://www.irscorner.com/c/cale.html

perhaps i should only mention that he played with lou reed in velvet underground.

linmag · Post by **linmag** » Tue May 20, 2003 2:12 am

Thanks for that, Jurica, and also to Tom for the trouble you have both taken. I'm pretty much convinced from what you both have said that it's the John Cale version that I have. Of course, I could download the Cale version from somewhere, and see if it matches, but I'd probably click on the wrong thing and end up with something else entirely. In any case, doing it this way is much more fun

Once again, thanks to you both for your help.

tomsakic · Post by **tomsakic** » Thu May 22, 2003 9:51 pm

Cale's version is on I'm Your Fan, highly recommended disc

johnny7moons · Post by **johnny7moons** » Fri May 30, 2003 7:53 pm

also on cale's live album from 1992 'fragments of a rainy season' - also highly recommended, if you like his version of 'hallelujah'.

margaret · Post by **margaret** » Fri May 30, 2003 8:00 pm

Just noticed that John Cale is listed as appearing on the Jools Holland show late tonight in UK 11.35 BBC2

Cia · Post by **Cia** » Sat May 31, 2003 12:06 am

Even Jeff Buckley did Hallelujah, could it be him you have heard?

Cia

tomsakic · Post by **tomsakic** » Sat May 31, 2003 7:38 pm

Margaret, it's because Cale announced new album, and "5 Tracks" EP is already out on EMI. He's still learning from Leonard - he's programming the whole album on computer.
If I remember he was regularly on LC board on this site, and then dissapeared, we heard last of him when he commented Ten New Songs. Or that was not him. I clearly remember someone said to him "I like your hallelujah" and he thanked. We discussed nicely about Death Of A Ladies Man.