Re: Pacific States ☂ WV72 - John Cale - Hallelujah
Yup, i'm sending one of my favourite artists ever to WorldVision this edition. The Velvet Underground co-founder and my personal music hero, Mr. John Cale. This is something I at first could have never envisioned myself doing when I joined this game, at least without a PQ in my hands, but it was being reintroduced last month to Cale's version of "Hallelujah" that suddenly gave me the courage, in fact determination that I was going to do this.
John recently released a remastered version of his 1992 live tour album, "Fragments Of A Rainy Season". I was surprised to discover that in the run up to it's launch, Cale had put out a music video for the song "Hallelujah". It's quite surreal to create a music video for a live rendition of a song recorded 25 years ago. You can even hear people in the audience coughing, but I think the whole thing is awesome, and from the moment I watched the video for the first time, I knew i'd finally found my entry for this special time of year. I got goosebumps. And now please excuse me a bit as I write a little (or lot) about how much John Cale means to me, and also about the composer of the song who recently passed away, the legendary Leonard Cohen.
I'm obsessed with The Velvet Underground and of course also Nico, and John's connection with these two are unrivalled. Along with Lou Reed, John Cale founded the pioneering experimental rock band The Velvet Underground and produced for Nico four of her six studio albums, which are probably my favourite records ever recorded. John Cale was born in Garnant, a mining village in Wales, and didn't start learning English until the age of seven. Cale discovered he had a talent for the viola and went to London to study, eventually moving on to New York where his career would begin. He stayed with The Velvet Underground for their first two albums, the iconic "The Velvet Underground & Nico" and it's follow up "White Light/White Heat". Cale was forced out of the band by Reed, and the bands music would change quite drastically as a result. Cale was the avant-garde, crazy and experimental glue that was keeping things so bold and forward. After leaving the group, John went on to release around thirty albums, and produced or collaborated on an absolute tonne of records for artists such as Patti Smith, The Stooges, Nick Drake, Brian Eno, Marc Almond, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Animal Collective to name but a few.
The Velvet Underground icons, Nico and John Cale
"Hallelujah" is the magnum opus belonging to the late, great Canadian poet and musician, Leonard Cohen. He sadly only very recently left us, passing away this November, very shortly after John released the video for his reading of the song. A song that has now become a modern day hymn, I will be shocked if this is actually the first time any of you are hearing this. It's been covered many times. John Cale was the first to cover the song, and it was his version that laid down the foundations for many future versions that would follow. Over three darn hundred covers in fact! The original by Leonard Cohen was a strange, dark and plodding, almost unsettling but ultimately uplifting piece, done mostly in spoken word. During the creation of the song, Cohen wrote over 80 verses, involving one writing session where (and I quote) he was reduced to sitting on the floor in his underwear, banging his head on the floor. That's some deep stuff.
The late, great and legendary Canadian singer-songwriter and poet, Leonard Cohen
What's the song about? Well, it's become somewhat of a seasonal mainstay now, and whilst I guess it fits somewhat, and music is always open to our own interpretation of it, the song transforms depending on who's performing it. In it's original context the song was coming from a place that was "cold and broken". There are layers of metaphysical meaning here. Cohen said of the song that "It explains that many kinds of hallelujahs do exist, and all the perfect and broken hallelujahs have equal value."
It's quite a strange phenomenon how an obscure song, one that Cohen's record label rubbished when they first heard it, has now become such a beloved piece, a modern day hymn. There's a great chance that you've heard Cale's version of the song, even if you don't know him as an artist, as it was his version that was used in a film with a certain green ogre. Perhaps the best known version is by the late singer songwriter Jeff Buckley. His haunting recording, inspired by Cale's, helped popularise the song slowly over time after his album "Grace" released in 1994. A spellbinding cover and one held in very high regard by critics. K.D. Lang released the version of the song Leonard Cohen himself held highest though. "Well, I think we can lay that song to rest now! It's really been done to its ultimate blissful state of perfection" he said to his partner after watching Lang perform the song at the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame back in 2006.
There have been a tonne of other covers. Notable artists who have taken this song on include Rufus Wainwright, Imogen Heap, Kathryn Williams, Bob Dylan and Alexandra Burke who took her gospel version of the song to Christmas number 1 after her X Factor win in 2009.
There have been many great versions of this song, but John Cale's rendition was the one that always touched my heart deepest. There was a while I had fallen out of love with this song, from it being one of my favourite songs ever. I thought it was over covered and over played, and I think I still stand by that opinion. I understand why though now, and the song has had it's time to breathe in the last few years. "Hallelujah" has become something much more now than an obscure gem, or even a cult favourite flirting with the mainstream world. It's become a song for everyone, and it's open to so many interpretations, different versions able to touch different people. It took a long while to get the stick out of my backside, and Mr. Cale to remind me of the ridiculous beauty of this song the teen me lived by. I can't think of a more beautiful song that has reached so many people.
Sending this is a celebration of two artists. John Cale and Leonard Cohen. All year long it was in my head "how am I going to follow on from Judee Sill?". Would I send Judee Sill again? Another celestial ballad? I started to worry but then was reminded of the beauty of "Hallelujah". Being able to send such a legendary song, performed by my Velvet Underground hero, proved just irresistible. When Cale sings it's poetry. His strong Welsh accent and the pure intensity of this version.
I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord.
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this:
The fourth, the fifth.
The minor fall, the major lift.
The baffled king composing Hallelujah.
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof.
You saw her bathing on the roof.
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you.
She tied you to a kitchen chair.
She broke your throne, she cut your hair.
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah.
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah.
Maybe I've been here before.
I know this room, I've walked this floor.
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch.
Love is not a victory march,
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah.
There was a time you'd let me know
What's real and going on below.
But now you never show it to me, do you?
Remember when I moved in you?
The Holy Dove was moving too.
And every breath we drew was hallelujah.
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah.
Maybe there's a God above.
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you.
It's not a cry you can hear at night.
It's not somebody who's seen the light.
It's a cold and its a broken hallelujah.
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelu...
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah.
☂
I'd like to share another live version of the song that John performed back in 2003. If the sound quality wasn't so potato I think I perhaps unsurprisingly would have opted for this recording at WorldVision. It's achingly beautiful with those strings and there is a slight dissonance to it all that pains me even more. It gives off a totally different vibe to his earlier recordings of the song.
Anyway, a small novel later and I just want to end saying that I hope you enjoy this rendition of "Hallelujah". I can't believe it's been well over a year since i've been playing this game now. Time is flying by so fast. Have a nice holiday season x