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drkottke 's review for:
One of my core rants that causes Charlotte to roll her eyes with a “there he goes again” gets triggered every time I hear a non-Leonard Cohen performance of “Hallelujah” either presented as a Christmas song or credited as an “anyone-but-Leonard-Cohen song.” Last week, a co-worker took to Teams and shared a YouTube performance of it, dedicated it to everyone observing Good Friday and Easter. It took a lot of willpower not to jump in with a pedantic “do you know what that song is about?” or “you know, Passover starts this Friday too, and would be a more appropriate dedication.” Anyway, I thought it was high time to keep my mouth shut and read this book I bought for my dad back when it came out. A biography of a song is an interesting enterprise, and this one brought me down from my high horse to better appreciate the unique malleability of the song - even among versions Cohen recorded and performed - to allow other performers to make it their own. When I saw Cohen in concert back in … 2008, maybe? … I rolled my eyes when he got to “Hallelujah” and it elicited the biggest applause/sing-along. Such snobbery is unbecoming, frankly, so I’m letting it go. Maybe that makes it more appropriate for the death and renewal of Easter weekend than I gave my co-workers credit for. Still not a Christmas song though.