Favorite Streaming Film of the Day : Netflix’s HALLELUJAH : LEONARD COHEN , A JOURNEY, A SONG

I first heard the song HALLELUJAH sung by Jeff Buckley, and I think that is the perfect introduction to this most labored over, and ultimately most beautiful song.

If one can compare a song to a sword in the stone, a sword made (years in the making, the forging) by LEONARD Cohen, it was then shaped and sharpened beautifully by arranger/producer John Lissauer, championed and kept alive by Bob Dylan, reforged by LEONARD Cohen into something drastically different, and tempered to its perfect cutting edge, its ultimate form (combining both of Cohen’s versions, the Spiritual and Secular versions) by John Cale of velvet Underground.

The song, with Cale’s cover, his merging  of the different versions into one perfect version, the lyrics were now perfect, the song was now perfect, the sword was now perfect. It waited only for the right person to pull it all the way from the stone.

The perfect song, waited for the perfect voice, Excalibur waited patiently for the coming of the boy King.

It waited for Jeff Buckley.

And Jeff Buckley pulled it from the stone, and King met sword. His version is still for me, with the hundreds of people who have covered it since, Buckley’s is the definitive version, it is a moment of grace… captured… distilled.

And I will always be thankful for Leonard Cohen birthing this song, a song that has outlived all those who made it sing. But we have those songs, and we have the story of Leonard Cohen in this documentary, Hallelulah being very much his changing spiritual and humanistic journey over time, but more it speaks to all of our journeys to find… if we be human… to find a moment of grace. And all the lives that he has touched with his song writing and his life, all the lives and artists that have been caught up in this cry… this broken Hallelujah.

I watched this documentary, and Hallelujah sung by Jeff Buckley is one of my favorite songs, (I generally judge people by whether or not they own Jeff Buckley’s GRACE Album on CD), and I found myself learning a lot about how that song came to be, its progress toward the Boy King, and its life since the fall of that same King.

I learned of the life of LEONARD Cohen, of his journey, of his yearning toward, striving toward… what great art always strives for…. moments of grace. A gift of grace.

I do not think I am an overly emotional person, not on the surface. But somethings touch me deeply. The striving in a world full of pain, to create however fleeting a balm toward pain, toward isolation, toward fear, toward the search… to create art with a capital ‘A’… the sacrifice that takes… the courage that takes… moves me deeply.

I felt while watching this documentary, by the time i came to the end of it, something wet out of my left eye, and my nose was running, and it was stupidly a long time before I understood i had something to say…  i opened my mouth, not sure what waited there… i thought it might be a scream, but there was no noise, no noise… there was just a cold and broken Hallelujah.

I desperately want this documentary (by directors/producers daniel geller and dayna goldfine, and released by sony classics) on DVD or Blu-ray. It deserves more than the impermanence of streaming.

If you find this post of value, please like, subscribe, comment, use the links below, or simply help someone have a moment… of grace.

 

“It is a cold and broken Hallelujah”

-Leonard Cohen

 

 

 

“You look around and you see a world that is impenetrable, that cannot be made sense of. You either raise your fist,, or you say ‘Hallelujah’.

I try to do both.”

—LEONARD COHEN

Song of the Day: HALLELUJAH by the late, great Jeff Buckley

One of the reasons I love the Snyder Cut Trailer, despite the fact I do not think a reedited film will make that C-/D+ movie substantially any better ( though I would love to be pleasantly surprised, the trailer does look great), is simply because I love the song HALLELUJAH. Many years ago I listened to the Jeff Buckley version, and my –appreciation– for that song remains undiminished, regardless who sings it. But for that song at its best, you have to go to the Jeff Buckley version, of the Leonard Cohen classic.

First let’s start with the OG, Leonard Cohen.

Now let’s move on to the version that made me a fan of the song:

And finally this live performance video is not Buckley’s best performance of the song. It is tired and worn and imperfect, and tortured, but for all those reasons, it is an essential glimpse at Jeff Buckley before his untimely passing, and an essential inspiration to all of us, in what it means to perform, even when you are not sure if you have anything left to perform with.

 

 

 

After doing this post I checked and to my dismay realized I did not have the Legacy CD version of GRACE. For a physical media head like me, that’s an unforgivable omission.

Come the beginning of the world or the end of it there are a few things every man or woman of note should have: A good pickup truck, a good shotgun, a good knife, some good books, some good movies, some good CDs, and a portable DVD player to platy them all on.

Jeff Buckley’s GRACE should be one of those cds.

Get yours by clicking the image above.

And get a decent portable player, as well as the headphones I recommend, here:

 

 

Jeff Buckley Lyrics

“Hallelujah”
(originally by Leonard Cohen)

Well, I heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
Well it goes like this:
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing HallelujahHallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah…Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah…

Well, baby, I’ve been here before
I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked this floor (you know)
I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah…

Well, there was a time when you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show that to me, do ya?
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah…

Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it’s not a cry that you hear at night
It’s not somebody who’s seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah…
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah…
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah