Hearing the voices

Ever have one of those days when you can't get a song out of your mind? As much as you try it won't budge. You listen to other music, you turn on the TV, you have a phone call, you go to a meeting, you walk your dog. Still, the song stays with you. It haunts you. It won't leave, it's a stubborn little bugger.

Today my haunting personal soundtrack is Hallelujah. Jeff Buckley's version. All respect to Leonard Cohen, but Buckley's take on the song is so heart breakingly beautiful it blows me away every time I hear it. The video doesn't have any visuals other than pretty colors, SonyBMG doesn't like to have Buckley's video for this song embedded anywhere, so you won't see the magical Jeff himself unless you go directly to YouTube. But the song is amazing and if you've never heard it you would do youself a great service by giving it a listen. Pay close attention to the first seconds - that's his inward breath. Even more meaningful since his death.

These are the bits that kill me:

I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show that to me do ya?

Remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was hallelujah?

Maybe there's a god above
But all I've ever learned from love
Is how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya.

And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.