Can't complain about Alexander Burke winning X Factor as she was head and shoulders above anyone else in the competition, but her version of Leonard Cohen's beautiful and haunting 'Hallelujah' is what they call in polite circles, a pigs ear.
Seems that i am not the only one to think that Simon Cowell has turned it into a car crash of a song because a campaign has been set up to try and get the the excellent Jeff Buckley version to eclipse Alexandra Burke's warbling for the coveted Christmas number 1 position.
Burke is almost guaranteed to get the top spot due to radio play and the publicity that X Factor gave her, but on downloads alone, last weekend the Buckley version stood at number 30 and the midweek chart has it at number 3 raising the very real prospect of the same song being at number 1 and 2 on Sunday.
As Cohen is stony broke after his former manager lost his millions on iffy business ventures, Cohen is set to make a much needed penny from the Royalties although personally i thought that his own version of the song is weak and i would have much preferred the superior and beautifully sung Kate Voegele version that quietly crept into the top 50 earlier in the year but Buckley's version has gained cult status and is widely thought of as the definitive version.
I hope that Alexander Burke goes on to have a successful career, she does have a great voice, but i would give anything to see Buckley win this battle on Sunday and for Simon Cowell to stop meddling with the classics and stick to the usual guff he hands his acts to perform.
1 comment:
It's an interesting point that great song + great singer doesn't always add to a great experience for the listener.
Alexandra does have a superb voice (probably second only to Leona Lewis out of everyone who's ever been on the X Factor)... And Hallelujah is a fantastic song. Should be good then, no?
Ironically, I think what Alexandra's version is lacking is that special x-factor.
Some of my favourite singers are technically 'bad' singers (I can think of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Roger Waters, Neil Young, as well as Leonard Cohen) but, as great songwriters, they sing it like they mean it, and that's what I like listening to, rather than some trained-but-soulless 3 and a half octave range voice.
Post a Comment