Hallelujah

Do you have 99 cents in your pocket? Can you go spend it at iTunes, please? I bought Brandi Carlisle's Hallelujah (the live one, recorded at a radio station) and I am astonished by the fact that I think I love this version of the Leonard Cohen song even more than Rufus Wainwright's. Rufus will break your heart with sugar, his voice candy-coating the words that will like-to-kill you if you even read them written on paper. Brandi's version just SLAYS you. I love being dead like that.

I'm at the 'rents on the Central Coast right now, spending time with the little mama. I rode the Amtrak train-slash-bus connection down here, and I'm taking the Coast Starlight home on Saturday. I felt so.... techie on the trip down. While on the train I listened to my iPod nano while watching the view flash by, and then when the bus hit the boring part of 101, Gilroy, King City areas, I broke out the PowerBook and watched Netflixed Gilmore Girls (season three, and like, Jes is SO cute) while knitting. Way more fun than driving, and with gas prices, cheaper, too.

The internet connection here is a little slow, however -- they have a new computer that's running on dial-up at 28.8 Kbps. I can run faster than that, yo. So forgive me if I'm behind in email -- I'll catch up next week. And go buy that song if you want to be dead. You know what I mean.

Comments

[amy [knitty]]

i always love your music choices...but bugger, i can't find this one in itunes! help?

[anne]

Ooohh, nano. Was it a worthwhile upgrade from the shuffle? I'm considering moving up the iPod foodchain...

[melissa]

Its Brandi Carlile (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=97147548&s=143441) is the direct link

buying it now!

[Celia]

OH! I just herd Brandi Carlile on KFOG for the first time this evening. But a different song. I'll have to investigate. Now I must walk the dogs.

[Silvia]

You are so cute with the powerbook on the bus! Love that...but what,no knittin'?

[krystyyyyyy]

if you can't find her on iTunes, do a search for: brandi hallelujah. that's how I found it. yep.

[Lala]

Funny you should mention that - the blog My Old Kentucky Home just posted over 20 versions of this song - get 'em while they're hot!
Hallelujia on My Old Kentucky Home

[marylee]

I've been stopping in to your blog now and again since Ryan *introduced* all of us to you at your wedding (congratulations!). but today, after recovering from reading the line *I love being dead like that* I scurried to put you on the favorites list. Oh, and does central coast mean monterey? I lived there for 11 years and I'm certainly the better for it!

[greta]

Didja hear Leonard Cohen on NPR's Fresh air? Last week sometime, I think. I love his version of the song, but thought it was a cover of a Dylan....
sigh.
Must.Have.Coffee.
then to itunes....
you always have the COOLEST music!
and, AH, the starlight....
sigh.

[Janet]

Purchased "Hallelujah" on your glowing recommendation -- I love your music choices and also purchased the Ditty Bops when you blogged them.

Listening now - this is wonderful! I have k.d. lang's version as well, but think Rufus Wainright's (and now this) is hard to beat.

[Kel]

The Jeff Buckley version is the one that murders me. MURDERS! I'll have to check out this Brandi person ;)

[liz]

Any time I hear a Leonard Cohen song sung by someone else, it screws with my mind. Same with Tom Waits. They have such distinctive voices that I miss it!

[Amanda Scott]

Thanks for the tip - can't imagine it beating Jeff's version, but I have faith in your musical tastes!

[stephanieayn]

must echo Kel's choice...the jeff buckley one makes the mascara run everytime.

i'll have to check out brandi's though.

[fishtail]

I checked out that version on iTunes and saw that it was recorded at KCRW. This is awesome because Morning Becomes Eclectic is such a great show and they have video of (mostly) all their guests. Here are Brandi's videos:

From May 12, 2006
http://www.kcrw.com/smil/mb060512Brandi_Carlile.ram

From Sept 1, 2005
http://kcrw.com/smil/mb050901Brandi_Carlile.ram

[Teresa]

What?
No knitting on the way?!?

[Teresa]

What?
No knitting on the way?!?

[Nanc]

I *love* the song "Hallelujah" and have the Cohen and Wainright's versions on the iPod. (They both get a lot of play.) So I took your recommendation and - shazzam! I'm lovin' it.

[Jenna]

I'm also a big, big fan of that song but the Jeff Buckley version for me is the one that is above and beyond. So good. Strangely, the versions I've heard by ole Leonard himself haven't impressed me.

[spaazlicious]

Hey, I thought of you while on the BART during our recent visit--I saw signs for training to run the AIDS marathon in Italy. Any plans?

[vanessa]

i didn't know you were a fellow gilmore afficianado.

[Stephanie]

You gotta spend another 99 cents on the K.D. Lang version. Every time she sings it I can only think "take me now. "

[Mandy]

Have you heard the Jeff Buckley version, though? There is nothing more beautiful. It's even more sad to hear it and know he's dead. Really though, listen. I will go buy your preferred version now. :)