Hallelujah

When I have the time to play, to take ideas wherever they can go, it can be anywhere. Recently it was finding this version of [Hallelujah] at YouTube.

I became re-addicted to the song watching Shrek (which I love) with my two small grandsons. Now I can't get enough of Hallelujah's melody and lyrics.

I want to suck the words, the images right into me. I want to sing it over and over. I need to get some simple piano music for it because I love to sing it. It's not as though it presents a particularly happy view of love; but it's a passionate one, full of imagery when you close your eyes and imagine what the song is describing.



But is the best version the one on the Shrek CD, the one that Rufus Wainwright sings or... would it be Leonard Cohen, who wrote it: [Hallulujah at Glastonbury in 2008]?


Some would say finding things like this are not a better use of my time than the necessary driving into town for groceries. Well I am realistic enough to know that there has to be work, there has to be some time at stores, but I try to structure my time; so that I am not running around anymore than need be.

I want to leave myself unstructured time to make an unplanned drive to Portland (85 minutes) to spend an afternoon in Powell's Bookstore. Boy was it crowded that Sunday. There I can meander around with no idea what I want or need, but I will always find something.

When I go to say the grocery store or even when I need to buy clothes, I know exactly what I want and make it as quick as possible. After all, I need to get back out to the farm for learning more about [Leonard Cohen] because I always want to know where creative people got their energy. What did this composer live through that led to such a song?

Earlier, from Netflix, I had seen the documentary [Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man], which I enjoyed but I am not sure it answered what life experiences led to writing something like Hallelujah that is about questions of love using music with undertones from religion.

Sometimes I stop trying to figure out the why and just want time for meditating and letting something like his music soak all the way through me. With that song, there is so much to soak in.

(Personally, I like Cohen's version best. It's like listening to a writer or poet read his/her own words. It is always better than even the best performer's version).