St Vincent says covers of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ are “the worst thing in the world”
St Vincent has said covers of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ are “the worst thing in the world”.
In a new interview with Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2 that you watch below, the musician talked about her love of Cohen’s”masterpiece” and how much she disliked covers of the song which were popular on shows like American Idol and X Factor.
St Vincent explained: “Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ is one of the best songs ever written, period. It’s an absolute masterpiece, it took them however many years to write. The song itself is about the complication that it is to be alive, and the agony and the ecstasy and all of the inherent conflict therein.”
“You know how, for a period of time, it became a song that people would cover on American Idol? They’d sing it and just be like ‘hallelujah, haleluuuujah.’ It’s just the worst thing in the world.”
The song has been covered by many artists over the years, including Bob Dylan, Rufus Wainwright, KD Lang and Jeff Buckley.
@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
St. Vincent recently shared footage of her reaction to Dave Grohl recording drums for her new song ‘Flea’.
The musician shared the track last month (March 28), the second lifted from her forthcoming new album ‘All Born Screaming’ featuring the Foo Fighters frontman. He also appears on ‘Broken Man’. The album arrives on April 26.
She has shared footage of Grohl performing the drums on the song while she air drums in another room. After he’s finished recording, she runs into the room excitedly shouting, “Fucking fuck yeah!, Fuck yeah!” to which Grohl claps his hands laughs.
Last month, NME spoke to St. Vincent about her upcoming record, where she shared the impact of Grohl’s drumming on ‘Broken Man’: “From the beginning of the song, it’s a slow-burn.”
“The shape of the song is climbing the mountain, because it just grows and grows,” she continued. “There are essentially three drummers on the track: the first part is my programming, the second part Mark Guiliana comes in, and then at the very end of the track – just when you think it can’t get any higher – Grohl comes in with this absolute reckless spirit and just takes it to the edge.”
St. Vincent also opened up about acting as sole producer for her record for the first time, saying: “I’ve co-produced every one of my records and seen it through, but with this one I needed to go places I hadn’t gone sonically before.
“I needed to understand sound – scientifically and also as intention. I needed to say, ‘I am physically moving electricity around, I’m playing with currents, I’m gonna be fucking Thor’. My fingerprints are on everything. I feel closer in a certain way, because it’s genuinely the inside of my head without any filter.”
She recently announced details of her North American tour, which is set to begin this April. Spoon, Yves Tumour, Dorian Electra, Momma and Eartheater will also act as support guests throughout the tour.
Tickets went on sale yesterday (April 5) at 10am local time – you can purchase yours here.
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Elizabeth Aubrey
NME
