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St. Vincent is in promo mode for new album All Born Screaming, and she’s got my attention today with a take that is by no means hot but certainly qualifies as accurate. Speaking to BBC Radio 2’s Jo Whiley, Annie Clark explained that the modern tendency to cover Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” without any of the original song’s nuance or complexity is “the worst thing ever,” an opinion she expressed with an appropriate amount of impassioned disdain.
Here’s the full bit as Clark said it:
You know how Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah is one of the best songs ever written? Just, period. Just, it’s an absolute masterpiece it took him however many years to write. The song itself is, like, about the complication that it is to be alive — and the agony and the ecstasy and everything and all of the inherent conflict therein. Then you know how for a period of time it became a song that people would, like, cover on American Idol? People would sing it on American Idol and just be like [adopts pinched, fried vocal tone] “Haaalelujah! Halleluuuujah!” And it’s just the worst thing in the world. Like, it’s the worst thing in the world.
Surely St. Vincent would agree that under no circumstances should “Hallelujah” be considered a Christmas song. The real question is, after all these ill-conceived covers, does the Jeff Buckley version hold up? (Just remembered the lede from my Grace retrospective was “Jeff Buckley would have slayed on American Idol.”)
In a separate clip, Clark talked about how she doesn’t care about the authorial intent behind her favorite songs, arguing that it’s a “generosity” on the part of artists to let listeners complete songs with their own context rather than spelling out the backstory. Watch both clips below.
@bbcradio2 “That is the worst thing in the world” Safe to say St Vincent isn’t a fan of people covering Hallelujah Listen to St Vincent’s chat with Jo Whiley on BBC Sounds 🎧 #stvincent #hallelujah #hallelujahcover #jowhiley ♬ original sound – bbcradio2
@bbcradio2 St Vincent joined Jo Whiley to talk about her new album and lots more. Listen to their chat on BBC Sounds #stvincent #music #jowhiley ♬ original sound – bbcradio2