Blame Canada

You know, after the opening Olympic ceremonies I was certain my store would be flooded with old folks looking for Canadian country/torch singer k. d. lang's version of fellow Canuck poet Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" -- but strangely, no. Instead we're getting bombarded with requests for the Canadian Tenors. Did they play the opening ceremonies? I Tivo'd it and fast forwarded through about 90% of the spectacle, though stopped it at "Hallelujah" because I worship at the altar of k. d. lang. And of course, Leonard Cohen. So I did a google search on the Canadian Tenors and I see several hits on the group doing a cover of.... yep, "Hallelujah". It always comes back to "Hallelujah", doesn't it? And I still remember when "Suzanne" was Cohen's most covered song.

"Hallelujah" does tend to send people swamping the store anytime they first hear it. Bob Dylan, Bono, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright... and just recently Justin Timberlake performed it with protegee Matt Morris at the Hope For Haiti telethon that had customers pulling their hair to obtain (sorry folks, iTunes and Amazon only for now). But oddly, nobody's really all that interested in Leonard Cohen's original version. Maybe it's his trademark baritone/bass that turns them off. Maybe people feel that a song with such religious context should be sung with the lilting voice if an angel or something, instead of Leonard's world-weary smoky coffeehouse drawl. All I know is that I wished it gave Cohen more exposure for his talents. Still not likely.