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In the last two days I’ve had the pleasure of hearing K.D. Lang interviewed twice, whilst on her visit down here. On each occasion she has been asked about her singing of Hallelujah & her answers were both considered and interesting.

In the first interview, when quizzed about her regular covering of Hallelujah, she said she never gets tired of singing it, experiencing it in a different way each time, also reverentially referring to Leonard as a poet.

In her second interview, when asked about her feelings regarding singing it at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver last year, she said she thought it was an odd choice for such an occasion, but even though she queried this, the committee wanted to go ahead with her singing it (in particular).

The discussion then moved on to the sexual allusions in the lyrics (including her curiosity about how 80 year old women would regard them) and she maintained that she “reframed” (my word) the experience of singing these lyrics by looking at the thrust of them in a way that interprets them as referring to the general experience of “desire” that we all have as humans. I thought this was a neat way of dealing with the song’s lyrics, which I have always thought of as being quite sexually charged and oriented. She was also highly amused when the interviewer said that the song was performed for the Pope on his recent Australian visit.

Cheers,
Andrew

Thanks for your post Andrew
I love K.D.'s version and loved her performance at the Winter Olympics in my hometown last year.
I look forward to seeing her on her new tour.
Cheers
Leslie

Leslie, I agree with you about K.D.'s Hallelujah; I think she puts more passion into her performance of this song than just about anyone I can recall (except for some of Leonard's own performances of it).

It's nice you will be seeing her on tour.

Cheers,
Andrew

Andrew,

Thank you for posting excerpts from her interviews. I normally do not like to hear anyone sing LC's songs except LC. The only exceptions are kd Lang's 'Hallelujah' (especially here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYiMJ2bC65A ) and Billy Joel's 'Light as the Breeze' (although The Webb Sisters 'If it Be Your Will' also makes my list, it is only because they take that song to a completely different ethereal plane, and I still prefer to listen to LC sing it).

I used to keep my love of these covers under wraps, because to declare this out loud I thought would sound like blasphemy. Then I read somewhere that LC, himself, had said that he thought that both kd lang and Billy Joel did a better job on these songs than he did. Still sounds irreverent to say that I like their covers, but as least I had validation from the highest source available

Warmest regards,
Mary

Mary, I'm pleased you appreciated my post - overall, I found the two interviews interesting and (not surprisingly) further confirmation of LC's stature amongst his peers in the music world.

By the way, I agree wholeheartedly with you about Billy Joel's 'Light as the breeze'! As for the Webb sisters' 'If it be your will', I go along with you there too - it does indeed transport one (in a tingle-down-the-spine way)!

Cheers,
Andrew