Devaluing a great song
by Brendan Coffey
Email This Post
The latest version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah has reached number one although this is a risible version sung by the winner of the X Factor - a television enterprise totally at odds with the artistry of Cohen and his classic song.
Some people decided to try and halt the new version by encouraging everybody to go out and buy Jeff Buckley’s version - the best version - instead.
If people enter the race to beat Simon Cowell’s latest output then they’re fuelling his profits just as much as if they bought the new version. Creating a race suits both competitors. Why people would see such an importance in attaining the Christmas number one when it has no value anymore if it ever did because it’s just another offshoot of consumerism is beyond me. A song with as much depth and character and sung with such power and empathy by Buckley deserves a little more than an online cyber campaign to outsell a populist and lowest common denominator form of entertainment that is the X Factor.
Tags: Hallelujah, Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen, Simon Cowell
