k.d. Lang's 'Hallelujah' mesmerizes 2010 Winter Olympics audience
Canadian singer k.d. Lang's version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" was, for many, the highlight of the opening ceremony (Feb. 12) of the 2010 Winter Olympics.The web is on fire with searches to see the video and we thought you might enjoy this previous (and more intimate) version of Lang's performance of the moving song. You may recall that Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris recently sang this song to great effect on "Hope for Haiti Now." You can watch theirs below.
The song was particularly poignant last night considering the tragic death of 21-year-old Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili during a trial run just hours earlier.
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It was beauitful, but I thought it was such an odd choice for the ceremony -- so sad. It was introduced as a "song of peace," but I didn't see any peace in it.
This is a song that doesn't fit in any venue, really, if you just listen to the lyrics (which are basically about how love kinda sucks when it's going bad). The melody and the performances are what make it so powerful, however, and while I've never been a fan of k.d. lang, that performance was one of the best live versions I've ever heard. If I had been the program director, I'd have placed the song near the beginning of the events, rather than near the end, but it worked for me either way.
Hallelujah is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. However, if I were going to choose a Canadian to sing this song I would have chosen Patricia O'Callaghan, whose version is the best I've ever heard - her soprano voice is perfect for this song.
Can NBC do ANYTHING right with these games? First tape delaying for the time zone where the Olympics are being played, then they have to make sure no videos of the opening ceremony are online for people to watch. F YOU NBC!!!
In my opinion Canada had an unknown artist that should have sung Halleluja. His name is Iann Guerin. He is on You Tube singing this song and NO ONE could have done better. Nothing against KD Lang.
check out this Hallelujah version for Haiti, love it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOHavFfeXhs
K.D. Lang made this a song straight from heaven. Absolutely a great performance.
I'm not a KD Lang fan but I'll give her respect for doing a great job on this. Easily one of the better versions out there. And it made up for the rather awful O Canada from earlier in the night - and, for that matter, the screw up with the big torch at the end.
Awful O Canada?
Worse than awful.....what a terrible way to whine out such a disrespectful version of our country's beautiful national anthem......had that butchered version been done to the US anthem or any other, the singer would have been lynched.
Not a big Cohen fan, but I really dig this song...so haunting. And KD did my favorite performance of this song ever. But I don't think THIS particular performance (Olympic) was that great. Check out her performance of this song on "Later with Jools Holland". That was really amazing.