On Listening To 'Run' By Leona Lewis...
I always thought I agreed with the idea that nothing is really sacred in music. You can cover any song you like, sample any piece of music you want, and people should judge the result on its own merits. It's not as if a bad cover really diminishes the original in any sense (or at least, that's what I used to believe).
When P Diddy sampled Led Zeppelin's 'Kashmir' and made it into 'Come With Me', I did not flinch. When Mary J. Blige ripped apart 'One' by U2 and remodelled it in her own image, I was too busy dabbing my eyes to register any protest whatsoever, and when the Ting Tings gamely had a crack at 'Standing On The Edge Of Control' by the Gossip, I was ready with a post-match slice of orange and some calm words of faint praise.
And this is a perfectly nice take on a song I've always been a bit nonplussed by. The original, by Snow Patrol, just felt like a re-tread of 'Creep' by Radiohead, only with less self-loathing and no grunty guitars.
So to slow it down, embiggen it, gospelificate it and generally pump it full of supermassivement feels like no travesty whatsoever. Leona sings it beautifully, it builds to a preposterous peak, tears are shed, neck-hairs are interfered with, angels beam down from the heavens above, and everyone wins.
The thought that I'm having such trouble with is whether there is any difference between this situation, and the news that this year's X Factor winner will be performing, as the winning song, 'Hallelujah' - the song written by Leonard Cohen (ask your nan) and (ask my dad).
As I say, Leona Lewis covering Snow Patrol, no problem. If Leona Lewis covered 'Hallelujah', still no problem. Loads of people have covered the song, from Bono to Il Divo, and it doesn't seem to destroy the magic of whichever version it is that you prefer. Hell, the song has even been used in Shrek, without The Music dying, which just proves that you can't be over-protective.
However...to use the song as the victorious grand finale of a TV talent contest is just wrong. Not wrong in a rocksnob sense, I'm not red-faced and fuming, screaming "sacrilege!" to the skies and calling for a lightning strike on the House Of Cowell. But wrong because it is not a winner's song.
It's a very wise song, it's a song which draws from bitter experience and still comes out seeking for enlightenment, but it is not a song which says "I have been to hell and back and now I am the ruling monarch of all I survey". That song is 'We Are The Champions' by Queen.
'Hallelujah', by comparison, is the kind of song people like to play at funerals. It's a song which attempts to sum up why love is what it is, and why it has always done what it does, for better or worse, ever since the dawn of time. It's a consolation song for people who have done foolish things, gambled big, and lost.
It's also a song which reveals a lot about the singer, even while they are singing it. Sometimes it reveals hidden depths, sometimes hidden shallows, it simply depends on whether they can get across that feeling of hard-won, bitter wisdom, and unflinching compassion.
So for an X Factor winner to get all that across, at the moment of victory, is a big ask. You can't help but wonder if the choice of song is some oblique dig at Peter Kay's X Factor spoof. Some attempt on behalf of the show to take the moral high ground, to say "ah yes, you might think we always do the same kind of song, but look! Our singers are good enough to handle the classics!"
Now, I don't claim to know who is going to win the X Factor this year. I don't even know who's in the running, because, as I've said before, I don't watch it until the end anyway. But I really doubt that the person who stands up at the end, no matter how good they are, is going to be able to divorce the song from the situation.
It's going to be the grand finale of the X Factor, people are going to be screaming and hollering, and their winning song is a quiet meditation on love and failure and death.
Hoo-flipping-rah.
There again, I said Leona Lewis wouldn't get the support she needed and would therefore go the way of Steve Brookstein. So what do I know?
Comment number 1.
At 3rd Dec 2008, Mark Walter wrote:This article shocked me twice over
Firstly, I saw the headline. Leona Lewis is covering Pink Floyd's "Run"? Wow, that's a brave choice...
Oh, so actually there is a song by Snow Patrol called "Run".
Then I read that Hallelujah is the finale song for X-Factor.... Now that really is shocking.
The thought of a song as great as Hallelujah being schmalzed and cheesed up is pretty annoying (even if Leonard Cohen's original is schmalzed and cheesed up in the first place - thus why Buckley's version the best)....
It's almost a choice designed to annoy people, since I can imagine the majority of Leonard Cohen fans are not big on the X-Factor.
Bah humbug.
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Comment number 2.
At 3rd Dec 2008, jimmysavillescigar wrote:I agree, Hallelujah will not work sung by some idiot who can't stop grinning, being showered in confetti backed by their grinning fellow contestants and grinning judges, with grinning family including mad-auntie in the audience.
Thanks for the heads up, will make a point of not watching the final just so that image doesn't ruin that song me. Eternally grateful.
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Comment number 3.
At 3rd Dec 2008, Stu_ps wrote:Leona's cover of Snow Patrol's "Run" is incredible! Perhaps her best performance yet. I hope it goes to #1 because I love it and her.
Although I agree that the winner of this year's X Factor shouldn't being doing a "cover" as the winner's presentation to the World, I will add that Alexandra Burke will do a fantastic job with "Hallelujah" (or any song they want her to cover).
:)))
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Comment number 4.
At 4th Dec 2008, kookie25 wrote:I thought the Hallelujah thing was just a rumour, I am saddened that it is true. I can't believe someone has felt that a winner of x factor could possibly do any justice to the song.
For anyone interested - Brandi Carlile does a wonderful version of JB take on the song, and recently performed it in Seattle with an orchestra - giving it another take on the song
I dont think anyone of the contestants are of age or experience to be able to sing the song effectively. Of all the writers and producers that they have at their beckons call, can't they come up with something original? what does lenoard say about it?
as for 'run' - i dont like her version of it at all, although i am biased as that song just rips my heart in two from past stuff anyway, i dont want to hear it anyway.
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Comment number 5.
At 4th Dec 2008, Psychology101 wrote:I love Leona's version of 'Run' and I think it is better than Snow Patrol's overplayed version. Although, all the rock snobs seem to hate Leona's version, what a surprise!
I think 'Hallelujah' has been chosen on the belief that Diana Vickers will win The X Factor since her voice matches the original the best (and she's sang it already in the 2nd or 3rd round). Although, Diana is no longer the favourite to win, Alexandra is, and she could produce a better version of the song in her own style.
And what about the 3 musical guest acts in the final show? Clearly chosen to match certain contestants: Alexandra with Beyonce, Diana with Take That (Gary loves her) and Eoghan with Boyzone (Irish link). Basically it's goodbye JLS this saturday.
Sorry, I know this isn't an X Factor thread.
Anyway, yeah, I love Leona's 'Run'!
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Comment number 6.
At 4th Dec 2008, Kerri_Clark wrote::0!
Psychology101 how can you say JLS will be gone?! And that Diana will be in the final! The final will be: Alexandra, JLS and probs Eoghan. Alexandra being the most talented, though JLS's music I would buy... yes Fraser you read that right :P Take That are also starting to grow on me considerably. I bet you never thought you'd hear the day heh.
Before I finish about XFactor I am also a very strong believer that Diana should have gone not Ruth. And that's nothing against the way Diana sings, she's like marmite yes but I LIKE the way she sings, shes just not as good as Ruth.
Oh and I don't like Leona's cover of Run, the Snow Patrol version is far better.
:D
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Comment number 7.
At 15th Dec 2008, Alasdair Dinnewell wrote:Can we just clear up that Jeff Buckley's version is essentially the same as the John Cale version which is not the same as the Cohen version?
John Cale asked Cohen for the lyrics to Hallelujah and Cohen sent him about 8 pages of lyrics, Cale picked his favourites, changed the musical arrangement a little bit and covered it on a Cohen tribute album. Jeff Buckley heard that version and covered it.
And thats enough dull John Cale facts for now.
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Comment number 8.
At 15th Dec 2008, gingerlea wrote:am soooo angry...that this pointless show has the cheek to cover such a beautiful song. hallelujah. the people they churn out have no creativity or uniqueness, they don't derserve the chance to cover songs like this...how many shows have they done an how many of the winners av done anythin half decent. its puts shame to the efforts of such legends like the beatles and david bowie who av made the uk music industry so respected.
jeff buckley's version is amazing and if anythin that shud be number one. the younger generation shud be taught wat real music. tehres a group on facebook dedicated to making jeff buckley's version of hallelujah xmas number one an i no al be buying it more the once its bout time simon cowell was taught a lesson. i urge everyone to not buy the xfactor version.
pop music's deads....move on!!!
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Comment number 9.
At 17th Dec 2008, slobsassociation wrote:Im sorry but i think it's so strange how people can go on about Jeff buckleys version being any better than Leonards. Cohen wrote the song and he wrote it about more than just love, there's a story behind it. I don't understand how his version can be slated whilst Buckleys is being praised because it's the lyrics that make the song what it is, he might not make the cheeriest of music but he has always been admired as a poet and a songwriter and his lyrics are timeless.
The X Factor winner might not be worthy of such a masterpiece but at least it will introduce people to him and his music which is something he deserves after so many years of writing such beautiful words, and this (hopefully) will be the first time a song of his has entered the charts, let alone be number 1. Even the critics who say he's only for your gran(i'm 23 and ALOT of young people i known are die hard fans) can't deny that after so many years this is definatley the recognition he deserves.
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Comment number 10.
At 23rd Dec 2008, sarahmo-roberts wrote:im so fed up of this rubbish you come up with. this is supposed to be about leona's song (which by the way, is great) Yet everyone is fussing about x factor. WHO CARES IF ALEX COVERS THE SONG? just dont buy it, it doesnt permanently wreck the song. there have already been countless covers of this.
STOP WHINGEING OVER NOTHING.
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