90s Music Monday

So as promised last week - another cover version that I not only think is better than the original.

For me that's a group that includes, amongst others, "All along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix and slightly more obscurely, Faith No More's version of "Easy". I have no formal criteria as to which covers I'll like or not but, if forced, I'd say that in general (and in no way is this a definitive and final cut) I'd have to say that it has to provide an alternative take on, for want of a different word, the narrative.  That said, although I like Joss Stone's deliciously sleazy sounding version of "Fell in love with a Girl" I still prefer the freneticism of the original. And, whilst I love Johnny Cash's "Hurt" (and the astounding Mark Romanek video that goes with it) I'd have to go with Nine Inch Nails every time.

Slightly more controversially is the version of "Hallelujah" by John Cale.

Personally I'd argue with anyone, sober or drunk, that Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is  very possibly the best song ever written. Period. It's not for nothing that it's one of the most covered songs ever or that it seems to be endlessly used in film and tv soundtracks - it's almost as if it's become a acoustic semiotic trigger for melancholy gravitas, joining that library of other audio standards like the Wilhelm Scream, the Red-tailed Hawk and that nouveau cliché the  "Requiem for a Tower" theme (itself a cover of Clint Mansell's original score for "Requiem for a Dream").

And why is it so good? Well, with 15 possible verses to choose from it becomes a musical Rorschach test - pick the ones you want and craft the meaning. It can be sad, happy, repentant, angry. It can be spiritual and it can definitely be sexy (what precisely did you think "I remember when I moved in you and the Holy Ghost was moving too and every breath we drew was Hallelujah" actually meant?) or it can be any or all of them at the same time.

And it's one of those songs, like "Where did you sleep last Night", that's almost always good but which, when performed by some people becomes something else entirely, that transcends merely good and becomes downright extraordinary - life changing even. 

Now some people will already be up in arms that I've said the cover is better than  Leonard Cohen's original. Other's will be throwing a hissy fit that I haven't chosen that Rufus Wainwright's version is the best (even if it's clearly inspired by the Cale version) or, more likely, that I should have chosen Jeff Buckley's ethereal take on the song which is far more fragile than Cale's altogether more muscular treatment. Other's will champion Alison Crowe's or Imogen Heap's or the Dresden Doll's and that's their right but, for more, John Cale's version strikes exactly that right balance of hope, and anger and bitterness for me - mainly because I'm the kind of person who hopes to be angry and bitter in their old age.

Either way, I strongly urge you to read Brian Appleyard's article from the Sunday Times which describes it all far better than I could and which ends with the beautifully apropos description - Erotic failure never felt so good.