Skip to main content

Hallelujah - No Christmas Number 1 for Cliff


The poor girl had won the X factor, but by the time Alex Burke had stopped crying (which was an incredibly long time according to some) the knives were already sharpened... Not only here in Northern Ireland, where Eoghan Quigg's failure was put down to some kind of huge anti-irish conspiracy... but also among those who loathed the idea of a Cowell-produced version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" being number one at Christmas. Now, to a large extent I am one of those people... her version was overblown, but it could have been worse... It could have been Eoghan singing it! Or worse still, Cohen himself!

But this has produced a huge surge of support for the threatened Christmas single by Peter Kay as the Northern Irish Transexual "Geraldine" which is unashamedly aimed at causing Simon Cowell maximum annoyance. After all this is the season of "Goodwill to all men - except Simon Cowell."

It has also sent a huge number of people scurrying to itunes and other download sites to find the classic version by Jeff Buckley, leading to it leaping up the charts... which must also annoy Mr. Cowell somewhat, I am sure. However, the fact that this, and multiple other versions have been used as the pseudo-religious song of choice in the background of emotional scenes in every American drama series of the last 10 years (even my beloved West Wing), not to mention in Shrek, robs any sense of artistic purity from these un-Cowellised versions...

Meanwhile, that piece of sentimental tat "Little Drummer Boy" by Terry Wogan and Aled Jones is still a likely contender (Bring back "Away in a Manger" all is forgiven!)... I'm not sure that the fact it is in a good cause adequately excuses it... Indeed I am sure they might make more if they took money to keep it off our airwaves...

But whatever is number one... at least it isn't likely to be Cliff... And for that I am quite happy to say "Hallelujah!"

I do wonder however, how many will think about what the word "hallelujah" means... Or, for the TOG-meister's fans, whether they will follow the little drummer boy to find the real Christmas number one... the X Factor that lies behind Xmas.


For a much more thoughtful reflection on this subject, have a look at Mr. Moo.


Comments

ScatterCode said…
She's pretty good, but Jeff Buckley's version remains the best.

Geraldine for Number 1 though.
Anonymous said…
Parumpapumpum is not a noise that any drum makes. When it wasn't on your list I thought maybe it was one of those cultural differences things and that you don't suffer the parumpapumpums. But now that you brought it up...
Worse! Christmas! Song! Ever!

Popular posts from this blog

A Woman of no Distinction

Don't often post other people's stuff here... But I found this so powerful that I thought I should. It's a performance poem based on John 4: 4-30, and I have attached the original YouTube video below. A word for women, and men, everywhere... "to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." I am a woman of no distinction of little importance. I am a women of no reputation save that which is bad. You whisper as I pass by and cast judgmental glances, Though you don’t really take the time to look at me, Or even get to know me. For to be known is to be loved, And to be loved is to be known. Otherwise what’s the point in doing either one of them in the first place? I WANT TO BE KNOWN. I want someone to look at my face And not just see two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears; But to see all that I am, and could be all my hopes, loves and fears. But that’s too much to hope for, to wish for, or pray for So I don’t, not anymore. Now I keep to myself And by that

Psalm for Harvest Sunday

A short responsive psalm for us as a call to worship on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday, and given that it was pouring with rain as I headed into church this morning the first line is an important remembrance that the rain we moan about is an important component of the fruitfulness of the land we live in: You tend the land and water it And the earth produces its abundance. You crown each year with your bounty, and our storehouses overflow with your goodness. The mountain meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are filled with corn; Your people celebrate your boundless grace They shout for joy and sing. from Psalm 65

Anointed

There has been a lot of chatter on social media among some of my colleagues and others about the liturgical and socio-political niceties of Saturday's coronation and attendant festivities, especially the shielding of the anointing with the pictured spoon - the oldest and perhaps strangest of the coronation artefacts. Personally I thought that was at least an improvement on the cloth of gold canopy used in the previous coronation, but (pointless) debates are raging as to whether this is an ancient practice or was simply introduced in the previous service to shield the Queen from the TV cameras, not for purposes of sacredness, but understandable coyness, if she actually had to bare her breast bone in puritan 1950s Britain. But as any church leader knows, anything performed twice in a church becomes a tradition. All this goes to show that I did actually watch it, while doing other things - the whole shooting match from the pre-service concert with yer wumman in that lemon-