jeff buckley xmas #2

[unique]

Hallelujah tops Christmas chart


<!-- S BO --> <!-- S IIMA --> <table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="226"> <tbody><tr><td> http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45318000/jpg/_45318079_burke226.jpg Burke was crowned winner of the X Factor last Saturday

</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IIMA --> <!-- S SF -->Newly-crowned X Factor queen Alexandra Burke has topped the Christmas singles chart with Hallelujah.
Burke won the battle for Christmas number one ahead of the late Jeff Buckley, whose version of the same song was in second place.
It is 51 years since the same song sat at numbers one and two, and the first time ever at Christmas.
Burke's Hallelujah became the fastest-selling single by a female solo artist, with 576,000 copies sold. <!-- E SF -->
The cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah by Buckley, who died in a drowning accident in Memphis in May 1997 aged 30, finished at number two on download sales only.
<!-- S IBOX -->
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="231"> <tbody><tr> <td width="5">http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif</td> <td class="sibtbg"> http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif It's ironic that it's taken the X Factor to get a lot more of us to appreciate the music of Leonard Cohen http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


Gennaro Castaldo, HMV

</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IBOX --> The Official Charts Company said the only other time the scenario occurred was in January 1957 when Tommy Steele and Guy Mitchell held the top two places with Singin' The Blues.
Cohen - who wrote the hit more than 20 years ago - made it a triple Hallelujah in the top 40 with a new entry at number 36.
Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot said: "It is a particularly amazing week for Alexandra Burke who has broken a string of records to announce her arrival in spectacular style.
"And, chart placings at 1, 2 and 36 are remarkable for a 25-year-old song which has never previously reached the top 40."
HMV's Gennaro Castaldo said: "It was pretty much a given that Alexandra Burke's cover of Hallelujah would dominate the race for this year's Christmas number one, but it's been such a strange year that we thought the charts would throw up some kind of a surprise, and the twist came in the form of the Jeff Buckley cover.
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<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="226"> <tbody><tr><td> http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45318000/jpg/_45318077_grace.jpg Buckley's Hallelujah is widely regarded as the definitive version

</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IIMA --> "It's ironic that it's taken the X Factor to get a lot more of us to appreciate the music of Leonard Cohen and the talent of Jeff Buckley."
Burke's victory pushed 2006 X Factor winner Leona Lewis off the top after two weeks. She is at number three with her cover of Snow Patrol's Run.
The reality TV theme continued in the chart charts after comedian Peter Kay's spoof reality TV singer Geraldine entered the top 10 at number five with Once Upon A Christmas Song.
Comeback kings Take That claimed Christmas number one in the album chart with The Circus.
The album is the fastest-selling album in the UK so far this millennium, according to the Official Charts Company, and the second biggest-selling album of 2008.
Duffy's Rockferry was the year's runaway biggest seller so far, with 1.5 million copies sold in 2008 to date. <!-- E BO -->


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/7794709.stm

[unique]

Just whose hallelujah is it anyway?


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http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45305000/jpg/_45305123_comp_four_466.jpg

<!-- E IIMA --> <!-- S IBYL --> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="466"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="bottom"> SMASHED HITS
Classic pop, reappraised by the Magazine
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/999999.gif

<!-- E IBYL --> Rooftop bathing. S&M. Gunfights. A haircut. What is going on in this year's likely Christmas Number One - and possible Number Two? Two versions of Hallelujah are headed for the top of the Christmas charts. But there is a version of Hallelujah for everyone.
For the pre-pubescent fan of animated ogres, there's the one in Shrek that plays as the titular monster feels ugly. For the teen soap devotee, there's the sensitive acoustic montage music for profound moments in shows like The OC.<!-- S IBOX -->
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="231"> <tbody><tr> <td width="5">http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif</td> <td class="sibtbg"> NOTABLE VERSIONS
John Cale (stately)
Bon Jovi (soft rock)
Bono (spoken word)
Imogen Heap (a capella)
Fall Out Boy (emo)

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/inline_dashed_line.gif

<!-- S ILIN -->Quiz: Know your Hallelujahs? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7783704.stm)
<!-- E ILIN -->
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IBOX --> For the baby boomer ex-beatnik, its writer Leonard Cohen offers two renditions with almost completely different lyrics.
And now, for everyone - indeed, for Christmas - there's the X Factor victory single.
But exactly how Christmassy is this song, with lines like "your faith was strong but you needed proof", where the singer is "not somebody who's seen the light"?
Well, while there's not a lot of "behold the Baby Jesus" and not a donkey in sight, there's certainly a lot of Bible in there - it's just that it's some of the raunchier and more violent episodes from the Christmas-free Old Testament.
Evil spirit
We kick off in the Book of Samuel with David who is, as well as a nifty fighter, a mean harpist. His "secret chord" that "pleased the Lord" is enough to release an evil spirit from Saul, the man he is shortly to succeed as king. <!-- S IIMA -->
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="226"> <tbody><tr><td> http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45305000/jpg/_45305124_bathsheba226.jpg David is said to have scoped out Bathsheba having a bath on the roof

</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IIMA --> That done, David spies the beautiful Bathsheba "bathing on the roof" and gets her pregnant. Little good comes of this - Bathsheba's husband Uriah is one of David's soldiers and winds up dead.
Then before you know it, we skip to the Book of Judges and David has become Samson. When we hear the line "she broke your throne and she cut your hair", we all know what happened next - although Hallelujah doesn't depict the part where Samson, his eyes gouged, pulls down a temple killing himself and around 3,000 guests for good measure.
In X Factor winner Alexandra Burke's version, we only have one more verse to go.
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<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="208"> <tbody><tr> <td width="5">http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif</td> <td class="sibtbg"> COHEN ON COHEN
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</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IBOX --> In it, she tells us that "all I've ever learned from love is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you" and closes by announcing, as if any doubt were now needed, that the chorus is "a cold and a broken Hallelujah". Ho, ho, ho.
Singalong chorus
There's something odd here. The key shifts up. The strings crescendo. The gospel singers - who, incongruously, entered the stage of the X Factor final on the word "maybe" of "maybe there's a god above" - raise the volume even higher.
Far from cold and broken, the final chorus is more like Handel's original Hallelujah Chorus mashed up with Cher's I Found Someone.
Devotees of Hallelujah - and there are many - might wonder why Burke's people didn't choose some of the 80 other available verses.
Cohen's own ends on a far more upbeat note, lyrically, with a vow to "stand before the Lord of Song with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah". At the very least, this fits a festive feel better than the S&M of "she tied you to a kitchen chair".
<!-- S IBOX -->
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="231"> <tbody><tr> <td width="5">http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif</td> <td class="sibtbg"> http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif I filled two notebooks and I remember being in the Royalton Hotel, on the carpet in my underwear, banging my head on the floor and saying, 'I can't finish this song' http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


Leonard Cohen

</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IBOX --> If 80 verses seem excessive, that's because Leonard Cohen belongs to the old school of proper, serious, tortured songwriters.
His versions - one Biblical and another secular - take us through a huge range of emotional places, with the different hallelujahs expressing despair, sexual ecstasy and religious devotion.
As the Bishop of Croydon put it in a recent Radio 2 documentary, "what it comes from is being open and transparent before God and the world and saying 'this is how it is, mate'".
It's not immediately clear which of these we get in Alexandra Burke's single. Lyrically, it's about being crushed by irresistible passion. But the video makes it about the "journey" of winning a TV talent show, meaning all that's Christmassy about it is the pretty tune and the singalong chorus.
Angry fans
Fans of Leonard Cohen (and of the late Jeff Buckley, whose 1994 version is treated as sacrosanct) are predictably outraged at the big-arms, eyebrow-raised bombast, with the now traditional online campaigns and rival singles vying for the Christmas Number One.
But maybe they need not worry so much. For one thing, viewings of the other Hallelujahs on the global jukebox YouTube are rising every day, with comments underneath such as "Glad the song won X Factor - even with a rubbish version - otherwise I wouldn't have discovered this".
And for another, Cohen was last in the news when a court ruled that his manager had stolen £5.4m which he was unlikely to recover. So there may be another kind of joyous cry this Christmas - the kind that means "a beautiful woman has sung my song and restored my financial solvency". Hallelujah.



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[unique]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7783704.stm

Alexandra Burke is certain to score this year's Christmas number one with her version of Hallelujah. But more than 50 artists have already covered the Leonard Cohen 1984 song. See if you can tell who is singing the following versions.

[unique]

Alexandra Burke, Jeff Buckley storm Christmas charts with 'Hallelujah'

http://akamai-static.nme.com/images/081215_110654_alexandraburkepaphotsL151208.jpg Pic: PA Photos

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The song is both Number One and Number Two

Dec 21, 2008
2 Comments (http://www.nme.com/news/alexandra-burke/41791#comments)
Alexandra Burke news, reviews, video and tour dates (http://www.nme.com/artists/alexandra-burke)
Add Alexandra Burke to MyNME (http://www.nme.com/mynme/addArtist/6065)
Today (December 21) 'The X Factor' winner Alexandra Burke (http://www.nme.com/artists/alexandra-burke) raced to Number One in the UK singles chart, nabbing the coveted Christmas top spot with her cover of Leonard Cohen (http://www.nme.com/artists/leonard-cohen)'s 'Hallelujah'.

Burke's 'Hallelujah' became the fastest-selling single by a female solo artist, with 576,000 copies shifted this week. For the first time at Christmas the same song is at Number One and Number Two, as Jeff Buckley (http://www.nme.com/artists/jeff-buckley)'s cover entered on download sales alone.

It's only the second time this has happened at all in the UK charts in almost 51 years. In January 1957 Tommy Steele and Guy Mitchell held the top two places with 'Singin' The Blues'.

To add a further wrinkle, the song's creator Cohen, who returned to tour this year, entered the chart with his original version at Number 36.

HMV chart spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said, "It was pretty much a given that Alexandra Burke (http://www.nme.com/artists/alexandra-burke)'s cover of 'Hallelujah' would dominate the race for this year's Christmas Number One, but it's been such a strange year that we thought the charts would throw up some kind of a surprise, and the twist came in the form of the Jeff Buckley (http://www.nme.com/artists/jeff-buckley) cover."

Burke's triumph pushed a former 'X Factor' winner from the top spot - again covering a well loved track. Leona Lewis (http://www.nme.com/artists/leona-lewis) had been Number One for a fortnight with her version of Snow Patrol (http://www.nme.com/artists/snow-patrol)'s 'Run'. Comedian Peter Kaye's reality show parody 'Once Upon A Christmas Song' entered at Number Five.

A host of seasonal favourites made reappearances further down the chart - including The Pogues (http://www.nme.com/artists/the-pogues) 'Fairytale of New York' at 12, Mariah Carey (http://www.nme.com/artists/mariah-carey)'s 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' at 17, 's 'Last Christmas' at 27 and Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday' at 33.

In the album chart Take That (http://www.nme.com/artists/take-that) reigned supreme. Their latest album 'The Circus' is still Number One and has become the fastest-selling album in the UK of the millenium. The highest climber is Beyonce (http://www.nme.com/artists/beyonce), leaping from 24 to 9.

The Christmas 2008 UK Top Ten singles are:

1. Alexandra Burke - 'Hallelujah'
2. Jeff Buckley - 'Hallelujah'
3. Leona Lewis - 'Run'
4. Beyonce - 'If I Were A Boy'
5. Geraldine - 'Once Upon A Christmas Song'
6. James Morrison/Nelly Furtado - 'Broken Strings'
7. Kings Of Leon - 'Use Somebody'
8. Beyonce - 'Listen'
9. Take That - 'Greatest Day'
10. Britney Spears - 'Womanizer'



http://www.nme.com/news/alexandra-burke/41791

[unique]

Alexandra Burke bags Christmas number one

Sunday, December 21 2008, 19:02 GMT
By Nick Levine (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a139053/alexandra-burke-bags-christmas-number-one.html#), Music Editor
http://images.digitalspy.co.uk/08/50/160x120_alexandra_burke_2.jpg
<!-- google_ad_section_start --> X Factor champion Alexandra Burke has topped the Christmas singles chart with her version of 'Hallelujah'.
Burke's recording of the Leonard Cohen classic sold 576,000 copies last week, outselling the rest of the top 20 combined.
Its sales tally makes it the fastest-selling single by a female artist in UK chart history, beating the previous record held by Leona Lewis and 'A Moment Like This'.
"This is absolutely crazy, I can't believe it. It's been the best week of my life," Burke said. "Thank you so much to everyone that has supported me and bought the single. I'm bursting with excitement right now, it's incredible!"
Jeff Buckley's interpretation of 'Hallelujah' - taken from the late singer's 1994 album Grace - sold 81,000 copies to chart in second place, while Leona Lewis sold 72,000 copies of 'Run' to claim third position.
Meanwhile, Beyoncé places two singles in the festive top ten, climbing to four with 'If I Were A Boy' and zooming to eight with 'Listen', the Dreamgirls ballad she sang with Burke on last week's X Factor final.
Peter Kay's alter ego Geraldine McQueen bows at five with yuletide offering 'Once Upon A Christmas Song'.
The top ten singles in full (click to read our reviews):
1. (1) Alexandra Burke: 'Hallelujah' (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a138423/alexandra-burke-hallelujah.html)
2. (30) Jeff Buckley: 'Hallelujah' (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a138846/the-history-of-hallelujah.html)
3. (1) Leona Lewis: 'Run' (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a136659/leona-lewis-run.html)
4. (9) Beyoncé: 'If I Were A Boy' (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a134536/beyonce-if-i-were-a-boy.html)
5. (-) Geraldine McQueen: 'Once Upon A Christmas Song' (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a138070/geraldine-mcqueen-once-upon-a-christmas-song.html)
6. (18) James Morrison ft. Nelly Furtado: 'Broken Strings' (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a137178/james-morrison-ft-nelly-furtado-broken-strings.html)
7. (2) Kings of Leon: 'Use Somebody' (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a137312/kings-of-leon-use-somebody.html)
8. (60) Beyoncé: 'Listen'
9. (5) Take That: 'Greatest Day' (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a135041/take-that-greatest-day.html)
10. (4) Britney Spears: 'Womanizer' (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a132120/britney-spears-womanizer.html)
Source: Official Chart Company.




http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a139053/alexandra-burke-bags-christmas-number-one.html

[joyinrepatition]

Great song...