A broken Hallelujah

[SuzanneinOz]

I would like you to know that half of Australia is humming Leonard's song, Hallelujah - thanks to an amazing choir in Melbourne, The Choir of Hard Knocks, which was recently the subject of a series on national TV.

They are a group of disadvantaged, some homeless, people whose story - and formation into a cohesive, beautiful choir - has touched our hearts, as it would yours, I am very sure.

They are enjoying sell-out concerts in Melbourne and Sydney, and their second CD, featuring Hallelujah of course, is rocketing to the top of the album charts.

Here's their website if you'd like to find out more. http://www.choirofhardknocks.com.au/

To Leonard:
Thank you for Hallelujah, which has almost become the anthem of the Choir of Hard Knocks. It's as if you wrote it for them, even before they existed.
I'm writing to ask if you could possibly contact them (via the above website) just to say you know about them, it would be so unexpected and would mean so much to people to have so little.

And also to thank you for that other beautiful song which has been so important to me in my life - Suzanne.

Blessings to all from the other side of the planet,
Suzanne

[lizzytysh]

Welcome to the Forum with your inspiring post about this well-named group, Suzanne . I had really hoped for a sound clip of something by them; preferably "Hallelujah," but anything would have been fine. As it was, I got to look at all of these individuals and be moved by what I saw. I can understand why they're singing to sold-out crowds. A phenomenal way of addressing many things at once, not the least of which is self-esteem. You can see it in the postures of many there. Many groups that work with the homeless could learn a great lesson from the emergence of this ensemble. You're right that they would get a huge boost if Leonard were to send them his best wishes. I hope he does. Thanks for posting this, Suzanne. The same song has been instrumental in my life, too.


~ Lizzy

[SuzanneinOz]

Dear Lizzytysh,

thanks for your lovely response - and happy to tell you you can you can hear Choir of Hard Knocks sing Hallelujah thanks to the ABC who screened the series. Go to their shop website & sample it!
(it's a bit raw, but they've got better!!)
http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.a ... tid=390154
all the very best,
Suzanne(in Oz!)

[lizzytysh]

Thanks for this link, Suzanne. I had already forgotten that it was just a short clip and was disappointed when it ended. I'm paid only once a month, and will be happy to contribute to their future with my next paycheck. Looking forward to listening to the whole cd. They have a full, wonderful sound. When you say that this is a bit raw, but they've got better... is this from the album itself, or from a segment of the show? Or, are you saying that "Hallelujah" happens to be a bit raw, and other songs they sing, they do better?


~ Lizzy

[SuzanneinOz]

Hey Lizzy

good question! In fact I've just checked into the ABC website and the sample is from the latest CD (the one advertised) and it sounds less "raw" than on the show I was thinking of ... which traced them almost from the beginning.
I think you'll love the CD; Am I not Pretty Enough is another track that may reduce you to tears.

I bought the CD at last Sunday's show and have been playing it a lot since - I do a gig on a classical music station here a couple of times a week and am going to hit them with Hallelujah later today ... some of our older listeners may be shocked but the CD is actually NO. 1 on classic album charts in Australia this week!!

Love to talk another time, am finishing for the day soon (it's just midday here but I'm a sub-editor on an early shift!).

God bless,
Suzanne

[lizzytysh]

Hi Suzanne ~

Yes, I'm glad to hear that, as it didn't sound so raw to me.

I'll pay particular attention to those songs. Thanks. It occurred to me just a few minutes ago, exactly in the moments as I was waking up and still in bed, how ironic and beautiful it is that these are some of 'the very' people Leonard is singing about and on behalf of in "Please Don't Pass Me By." A just turn in life that they are doing their own singing. The time has come and they know the words. I wonder if their director will ever take on the challenge of having them sing that song, or if he'd consider that those sitting deep in their velvet seats have spent their money to be there, so have not passed them by. On one hand, I guess it could be considered as, somehow, too unnecessarily confrontational, preachy, or maudlin; on the other hand, it could be very powerful, the same as with the other songs you mention.

Such a stroke of genius to have recruited these people like this. I know it's an off-shoot of what's been done with children and young people living in underprivileged areas and ghettos; yet, the people who are homeless and who have various disabilities have so often seemed discounted as being beyond good use or repair. People to have been passed by as quickly as possible, seemingly in hopes of no contact at all, not even with the eyes. This turns that notion on its head and, again, I think of one of Leonard's lyrics, that their audiences will not be the people that they came with. They will be far more likely to make eye and heart contact with a person who has no home or has a disability and, if nothing else, greet them well. I hope they hear from Leonard.

I do a gig on a classical music station here a couple of times a week and am going to hit them with Hallelujah later today ... some of our older listeners may be shocked but the CD is actually NO. 1 on classic album charts in Australia this week!!

Is there the distinction between "classical" music and "classic" music in your comment here, Suzanne? Do you participate in a radio program for works such as Beethoven, but the classic charts are such as "classic rock," etc. ... or is this album really No. 1 alongside works such as one might hear at a symphony? No matter where it is, I'm glad to see it's coming in as Number One !


~ Lizzy

[SuzanneinOz]

Hi Lizzy

I think your suggestion is terrific and I will try to pass it on to Jonathon - as far as repertoire goes, he chooses for the choir first and foremost; and it works. The audience is very mixed but everyone was thrilled with the concert I went to, as far as I could see.

Good point about classical and classic: the radio station I "work" with once or twice a week (it's community radio, no pay!) has a charter of 80% "classical", 20% "other" - but it's getting harder and harder to make those distinctions. I finished the show with Hallelujah as planned but led in with a beautiful violin piece by Kreisler, quite melancholy and medious: a good fit.

ARIA runs our charts and one category is Classic, but they mean classical or at least cross-over (ie not pop!): you often find stuff like Il Divo, Celtic Woman, that kind of thing, beside the Australian Chamber Orchestra playing Bach ... so a great achievement for Hard Knocks to have got to the top.

As a new kid on this block, I wonder if Leonard checks into this forum? Is there a better way to get his attention?

I'm off to Sydney early tomorrow for a few days, will check in again next week.

Have a great weekend; hopefully with good weather ... it's freezing here in Melbourne!!!

peace, happiness,
Suzanne

[lizzytysh]

Hi Suzanne ~

I'm not sure when you'll see this, but I hope it'll be of some help to you. I was certain there was a hard-copy address for Leonard's management, as well, but I haven't been able to locate it through the main page of the Files, so for now, here's at least this from there:

The webmaster also appreciates
the continuous help of Leonard's office.
Emails to his management should be sent to: info@5042mail.com

I hope Jonathon will consider my suggestion favourably. Thanks for passing it on.

We had another woman here for some time, awhile back, from South Africa. Her name is Jo and she hosted/deejayed a jazz program for public radio there. She, too, would manage to get some of Leonard's music on her setlist .

I've only very recently heard of Celtic Woman. The descriptions I've read would make you want to buy them sight unseen, sound unheard.

Hope it's warming up a bit for you in Melbourne.


~ Lizzy

Aha. Here it is. Complete.

New Management
Ed Sanders will be running Leonard's Office in Los Angeles.

All correspondence should be sent to:

Office
5042 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 585
Los Angeles, CA 90036
USA

Email address info@5042mail.com

Maybe through one or the other, or both, you can make the connection you're hoping to make on behalf of those people.

[SuzanneinOz]

Hi again Lizzy

I'm back from holidays in Hobart (Tasmania), even colder than Melbourne!

Thanks for Ed's contact details; I have written to him and had an encouraging response.

Yesterday Choir of Hard Knocks sold out two concerts at the Sydney Opera House - sensational, especially for a choir from Melbourne! (Big rivalry between the cities).

There was also a story on them on "60 Minutes" last night, so it seems all Australia is getting behind them. Quite a phenomenon!

Hope you're enjoying the summer over there!

all the best,
Suzanne

[lizzytysh]

Hi Suzanne ~

That's wonderful that Ed has responded encouragingly... and 60 Minutes[!}... and that the show SOLD OUT TWICE ... yes, I remember that there's a competition between the cities. I can just never remember which one I'm supposed to like best . Their two Sold Out's just go to show that Sydney not really so bad, right ? Is your 60 Minutes the same as ours? Same host? Or, does Australia have their own rendition, like we have The Office and the talent show that Simon joins in on, from both sides of the pond?

Blonde Madonna started a thread on the group, too... using their name. It gave me a start, as for a minute I was wondering if I'd called her by someone else's name [yours], but we got it sorted.

I'm looking forward to hearing about the outcome of your correspondence with Ed. I'm also wondering if Choir of Hard Knocks will at some point tour in the U.S. There's a serious perception and 'management' problem regarding people who are homeless in the States. Something like this could help both of those, I feel.

Welcome back from Tasmania. What took you there other than the weather ?


~ Lizzy

[lizzytysh]

Hi Suzanne ~

The song below was written, circa 2000, by Anjani, Leonard's paramour and collaborator on "Blue Alert." It is on her self-titled cd "Anjani." If you have the means of sharing it with the director of the Choir of Hard Knocks, I'm wondering if he might consider it as a selection for the choir. Anjani has written it such that it would lend itself beautifully to alternating solos. Its mood would make it a moving piece in their performances. I can't help but note the irony between her third line and the cardboard in the choir's 'logo.'

Empathy and compassion are character traits I personally value. Across the years of watching and listening to Leonard, I have seen both in him. As I've gotten to know Anjani in various ways, I've seen the same traits in her. This song reveals how the people who are homeless and are invisible or irritants to so many others are both visible and real to Anjani. Whereas many are quick to condemn and walk on, Anjani's lyrics and delivery humanize this tragic situation with tenderness. Describing scenes I've seen, and using the terminology I've heard, she moves back and forth between description and commentary on life in the streets, to the attempts some people with nowhere to go make, as they try to connect with another human being, pleading in their own ways for compassion. Through their words, her empathy reminds us that we're all in this together and we never know when we may be the ones who need a helping hand; how even though we may have had it all, we can still find ourselves with nothing. The song could be from the perspective of the one without a home; or it could be a dual perspective, including an observer of it all.

Anjani, Adam, Lorca, and Esther have been there with Leonard as he has endured his own, personal and financial losses, which have thankfully not been to this extreme. Still, it's difficult to listen to Anjani sing this song without an acute awareness of how major losses can rather easily befall us... and how our loved ones can be that crucial shelter for our souls... and how desperate it must feel for those who have nothing and no one, those who have been so stripped of everything that they're right down to their souls, and their souls need shelter.


shelter for my soul

people talking to themselves
people living private hells
in a cardboard box
or looking for a can to sell
brother, can I bend your ear
i need some shelter for my soul

don't know how things got this way
had a job, a house, a family
but the streets are staking out
another claim
brother, can you help me here
with some shelter for my soul

hard times befallen the human race
can't find no doorway
that's warm and safe
don't turn away
don't think, "she'll be okay"
you might find yourself
in my shoes one day

who can say what's right or wrong
who can see that far beyond
i'm just trying to find
a space where i belong
brother, it's getting cold out here
a nickel just won't get me home
brother, i ain't gonna disappear
till i get shelter for my soul

Copyright 2000 Lilikoi Music BMI
Anjani - vocals, keyboards

******************************************************

Accompanying herself with minimal keyboards, Anjani's voice is plaintive, simple, and sincere as she shows us the lives of others; as well as softly and poignantly soaring, as she makes her own impassioned pleas for caring and compassion on their behalf. She sings with conviction. Even in reading and listening to this song, it's not always clear who is helping whom the most. We aren't meant to walk away; and in helping the souls of others, we can find shelter for our own.

I hope if you can get it to him, he'll consider it; if no on either or both, at least you can appreciate it in its own right for itself.


~ Lizzy

[Red Poppy]

"Brother, Can You Spare a Dime," lyrics by Yip Harburg, music by Jay Gorney (1931)

They used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob,
When there was earth to plough, or guns to bear, I was always there right on the job.
They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead,
Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?

Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower, up to the sun, brick, and rivet, and lime;
Once I built a tower, now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell,
Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum,
Half a million boots went slogging through Hell,
And I was the kid with the drum!

Say, don't you remember, they called me Al; it was Al all the time.
Why don't you remember, I'm your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell,
Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum,
Half a million boots went slogging through Hell,
And I was the kid with the drum!

Say, don't you remember, they called me Al; it was Al all the time.
Say, don't you remember, I'm your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime?

[blonde madonna]

'I got plenty of nothing' from the 1927 Broadway Musical "Showboat", lyrics originally by Oscar Hammerstein II, as sung by Frank Sinatra.

I got plenty of nothing
And nothing is plenty for me.
I got no car,
Got no mule,
Got no misery

Folks with plenty of plenty
They got a lock on the door
Afraid somebody's gonna rob them while
They're out making more

What for?

I got no lock on the door
That's no way to be
They can steal the rug
From the floor

That's OK with me
Cause the things that I prize
Like the stars in the sky
Are all free

Say I've got plenty of nothing
And nothing is plenty for me.
I got my girl
Got my song,
Got heaven the whole daylong.

Got my girl
Got my lawn
Got my song

I've got plenty of nothing
And nothing is plenty for me.
I got my girl
Got my song,
Got heaven the whole daylong.

Got my girl
Got my lawn
Got my song

[Red Poppy]

Never had you down as the "musicals" type Madonna

[blonde madonna]

That's true enough Red Poppy, especially dated musicals such as this, but in my personal ongoing campaign against piracy, plagiarism and infringement of copyright I thought it only right to acknowledge the original source.

I have the words of this song stuck in my head, along with millions of others, due to the suspect practise of parents inflicting their musical choices on their children. As a small child I was forced to listen to Frank Sinatra, among others, and it would pain me to go into further detail on this subject. Such as citing the other show tunes that can replay in my head at the slightest provocation.

No doubt one day my beautiful daughter will say something similar, or even worse, about Leonard Cohen.

Have edited my previous post, it was of course, importantly, Hammerstein the second. Forgive me for any confusion I may have caused.