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

Tis the Season. Merry Happy Ramadan Christmas Vodun Kwanzaa Hanukaa Festivus!!! :)

Holidays are upon us.

That we, reading this, have the luxury of celebration and remembrance and family, is a blessing. Many do not.

 

And we are stuck in the middle.

Time keeps on rolling… rolling… rolling… into the future.

 

Sorry bits of archaic, near forgotten song lyrics, stuck in my head. 🙂

 

Glad for so much here at the end of this cycle of days.

Here at the end of days, glad for so much.

But also aware of so much… that I should have made better.

 

We are almost a hundred years removed from the wonders and horrors of 1920, and almost a hundred removed from the wonders and horrors of 2120.

Here is hoping that in 2020, that our wonders transcend our horrors. That the places where we aspire, transcend the places where we tear down.

Speculative.

All speculative. All we have of any real import, is our pressure on the moment.

Is our will… applied.

Do we make a better world or a worse one.

Depends on you.

It ripples outward.

Intent.

Will.

No guarantees, but we fall down going forward… it matters. The intent transcends the fall.

Rambling.

Slightly.

All this to say… embrace… better. ‘Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable.’, Blanche DuBois said in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. We are all at times cruel, and petty, but I try to always remember that line, and not be.. cruel, or petty.

Because Tennessee Williams was right, right in his 1947 Pulitzer prize winning play, and right in the Elia Kazan, nearly x-rated for the time, 1951 Academy Award Winning movie… deliberate cruelty is not forgivable.

But it is avoidable and it is correctable.

Here at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, with change like the stuff of science fiction upon us, we must hold to that one true thing… to aspire to better. To be better. And to spend less energy trying to make things (our phones, our tablets, our tv, our refrigerator, our voice operated Alexa assistants, our drones)… human, and more time making humans… humane.

God, whatever God or Gods you bend your knee to, bless you and yours, and give you the wisdom here at the figurative ending of days and at the beginning of a new cycle of days, to judge your wrongs… right.

Be well.

 

 

 

If you enjoyed this rambling, but heartfelt, post, then like and subscribe to this blog, and click the link below and peruse some great gift ideas (ideas for 2020, it is too late to make it for the 2019 holidays). Your purchases keep the proverbial doors open, and are greatly appreciated. And you get great stuff. (ie Everyone should have an emergency bag , one in their car, and one in their house. It’s good karma to be… prepared. )

Today’s Deals of the Day.

2013: Day 4 – Ditty of the Day!

Ditty of the Day:

As you sow so uhhh
shall you reap
And as you walk
so uhhh shall you sleep
shall you sleep
–HT

PODCAST & SONG OF THE DAY!

The always excellent B-Movie cast is in fun form with their latest episode covering the 50s classic TARANTULA. And in addition they introduce me to a great song I had never heard before, Bob Schneider’s Tarantula from his LOVELY CREATURES album

An enjoyable podcast, and a fun, addictive song.

“If you’re reading this because you just heard 40 Dogs (Like Romeo and Juliet) and don’t know about Bob, your’re in luck! In addition to this pop-friendly brilliant single you’ll receive an excellent introduction to the multi-talented Bob Schneider and his tremendous versatility. I dare you to not tap a toe to “Til Somebody Catches a Feeling”. Elvis Costello is wondering why he didn’t write “Everybody’s Doing It”. Latin rhythms are abound in crowd favorites Bombabaza and Tarantula. In between there’s funk, ballads, and other crunchy grooves.” –Jeffrey D. @ Amazon

Listen to the podcast here (a sample of the song is at the end), and purchase the album here: Lovely Creatures CD

Enjoy.

“I met a woman down in Mexico
Sweet as sugar with a heart made of stone
We drank tequila by the light of the moon
I didn’t know that she would be my ruin
She said she knew about the voodoo ways
And could make me love her till the end of my days
She lit a candle then she took my hand
And in the street I heard the mariachi band

She tried to say she was the last of her kind
She started to change I nearly lost my mind
When she said that I’d be her honeybee
I realized she had put a spell on me
I looked around and my eyes grew wider then
I realized I was inside her spider den
Caught in her web I never had a chance
When she did her tarantula dance

You say its too fantastic that it cannot be true
But I say that can happen and it can happen to you
One minute you’ll be thinking that everything’s fine
The next thing you know well you’re there with your heart on the line”
–Tarantula by Bob Schneider

Song of the Day: WEREWOLVES OF LONDON by Warren Zevon