Sudden dislike of a song

[Photojeep]

Originally Posted by Rmz76

Did you find that you did not like your transposed version of it, or do you suddenly dislike the original?

I have transposed songs from one key to another because I couldn't hit the high notes in the original recorded key and found the song in the transcribed key lacked something and decided to abandon it.

Also I have to spend a lot of time with a new song to feel comfortable playing it in front of other people. Usually this means a few weeks of me picking up the guitar at least once a day and running through the song, sometimes recording it and listening back. During that process interesting things can happen. I've had cases where I gained new appreciation for a song and sometimes the opposite does happen where I loose interest, but I don't think I've gone from one extreme to the other as you have described.

RMZ,
No it isn't my transposition. In fact once once I transposed it I actually liked it better.

I guess it just wasn't meant to be...

(I also love Cohen's Hallelujah- but not Cohen's version...)

PJ

[Neil K Walk]

Anything by Lynryd Skynyrd or Creed. I used to like that type of music back when I was first learning but now when I hear it live I'll actually walk out.

[Blunote]

For me, it happens when I realize the songwriter has injected a political view into their lyrics.

I just don't like being preached at by someone who likely has zero knowledge of the subject. I definitely won't play it, no matter how good the piece sounds musically.

[Pitar]

Originally Posted by Laughingboy68

Sorry man, but Hallelujah is all about sex. It's a beautiful song that people often misinterpret as being sacred. The only thing that ruins Hallelujah for me is all the bad covers of it. My favourite is Jeff Buckley's version (which is clearly a hymn to the carnal act).

Jeff Buckley's is not what I call artistic, but there we have an impasse. He mumbles the lyrics rather than deliver them and certainly doesn't have a command of the melody in the artistic use of the guitar.

The song is not all about sex. There's nothing implied about that at all. I genuinely cannot understand how you interpret those words, outside of the side-swiping verse, as sexual innuendo. Romance? Absolutely. It's a song about tough love. The sexually implicit verse is wholly out of character with the rest of the song. When it's sung it ludicrously sounds like some guy who decides, suddenly and completely out of the otherwise romantic context, to vocalize sour grapes over his dry willy.

And, regarding Cohen, his creative prose notwithstanding, I'm not finding the content supporting his stature. Of his body of work Suzanne is the only song I consider memorable and I thank the record company's pirating of it from him and delivering it to us through Judy Collins instead. His artistic skills with a pen far exceeded his vocal and instrument playing capacity to compliment them.

And, I have no sense of sacred so that alignment needn't be suspected.

[semolinapilcher]

When I read the title of the thread, I immediately thought of the song "More Than Words".

I never learned it because I suddenly realized that quite literally more than words was all they ever wanted. And what's more than words? Deeds. And what actions are they sullenly demanding? Ugh.

[semolinapilcher]

I thought I'd chime in on Cohen. To me the sex he brings is Biblical: a mix of Bathsheba & Delilah. And (again to me) each plaintive hallelujah in that song is about 1000 things all at once... each one 100% mystical/spiritual.

p.s. cohen's "Everybody Knows" is at the other end of the continuum - a clean zero percent in terms of faith or hope. So awesome that he can go both places.

[Denny B]

Originally Posted by semolinapilcher

I thought I'd chime in on Cohen. To me the sex he brings is Biblical: a mix of Bathsheba & Delilah. And (again to me) each plaintive hallelujah in that song is about 1000 things all at once... each one 100% mystical/spiritual.

p.s. cohen's "Everybody Knows" is at that the other end of the continuum.

I hold Leonard Cohen in such high regard as a lyricist, that I personally feel that if a songwriter was going to be awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature, it should have been Cohen instead of Dylan...purely my opinion, and I'm a huge Dylan fan too...

But to get back somewhat on topic, if I find a song that I like for the most part, but feel personally offended by a lyric (which is highly unlikely for me) I wouldn't perform the song, and I certainly wouldn't censor the lyrics to suit someone else or a specific venue...

[Rmz76]

Originally Posted by Laughingboy68

Sorry man, but Hallelujah is all about sex. It's a beautiful song that people often misinterpret as being sacred. The only thing that ruins Hallelujah for me is all the bad covers of it. My favourite is Jeff Buckley's version (which is clearly a hymn to the carnal act).

I remember the first time I saw a worship leader on TV using the song... At first I thought "I guess that's ok, songs can be interpreted different ways" and I still feel that way in general... But the more I've thought about it the more it has bothered me for this particular song used in this context.

Sometimes lyrics are abstract and open completely to interpretation and sometimes they are very direct. Sometimes they are somewhere in the middle (lyrically, that's where I think the best songs tend to live). There's nothing subjective about the meaning in Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. It's all about masculinity succumbing to the seductive powers of the feminine and it liberally and poetically references the narrative of a king who is smitten with lust and lowers himself to have an affair with a infantry soldiers wife. Even murdering the solider to have her. It's a narrative that appears in the Jewish Torah and the Holy Bible and it's ear marked as this great leader's biggest weakness/flaw/sin.

But it's a universal theme that religious and non-religious can relate to and that combined with Buckley and Cohen's emotional vocal delivery on their respective recorded versions of the song are the reason we know and love this song, but I don't see the place for it in a worship services.

I think when it is used it's always a case of the worship pastor or worship leader really loving the song, finding religious context in the song's chorus and thinking "I can ignore the verse altogether and make this work in my worship service". With no regard for the artistic nature of the work.

To me it's an insult to the writer and not a complement when used this way. I also imagine you have a few in the congregation who know the song well wondering the motives of the worship leader. Is it his ignorance or pretension that's lead to the hacking and awkward use of such a great song.

[Denny B]

Originally Posted by Rmz76

I remember the first time I saw a worship leader on TV using the song... At first I thought "I guess that's ok, songs can be interpreted different ways" and I still feel that way in general... But the more I've thought about it the more it has bothered me for this particular song used in this context.

Sometimes lyrics are abstract and open completely to interpretation and sometimes they are very direct. Sometimes they are somewhere in the middle (lyrically, that's where I think the best songs tend to live). There's nothing subjective about the meaning in Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. It's all about masculinity succumbing to the seductive powers of the feminine and it liberally and poetically references the narrative of a king who is smitten with lust and lowers himself to have an affair with a infantry soldiers wife. Even murdering the solider to have her. It's a narrative that appears in the Jewish Torah and the Holy Bible and it's ear marked as this great leader's biggest weakness/flaw/sin.

But it's a universal theme that religious and non-religious can relate to and that combined with Buckley and Cohen's emotional vocal delivery on their respective recorded versions of the song are the reason we know and love this song, but I don't see the place for it in a worship services.

I think when it is used it's always a case of the worship pastor or worship leader really loving the song, finding religious context in the song's chorus and thinking "I can ignore the verse altogether and make this work in my worship service". With no regard for the artistic nature of the work.

To me it's an insult to the writer and not a complement when used this way. I also imagine you have a few in the congregation who know the song well wondering the motives of the worship leader. Is it his ignorance or pretension that's lead to the hacking and awkward use of such a great song.

VERY well said, Wayne...

[Scootch]

I kinda went the same way with Halleluah. I never really liked hearing anyone play it but for Leonard Cohen.

One time a a listener asked if we would play it. I found the chords on my iPad and and belted out a knockout version.

So yes I I like to play it. No I don’t want to hear it unless the old man is singing it.

[Steadfastly]

I am not that great at picking out the lyrics in some songs but my wife is. She has often asked if I know what is being sung and when I say no, she tells me. There have been a number of songs I have changed my liking for over the years.

[Glennwillow]

Hi PJ,

No, this has never happened to me. But,... we are all different.

I get so wrapped up in a song, I can spend two months straight totally immersed in it, and then when I get it down, play it every day for the next ten years.

I am probably the weird one.

- Glenn

PS: By the way, I did a cover of Cohen's "Hallelujah" because someone asked me if I would. I, too, do not consider this a church song at all. I never liked this song very much, but I did enjoy the experience of recording it. And I'm pretty sure I haven't sung or played the song, since. To me, it was an interesting foray into drama, but it's not a song that holds much interest for me. Also, musically, I don't find that it has much staying power because the song is so basic (C, Am, F, G); everything is wrapped up in the lyrics and the story behind the song.

Thanks...

[PiousDevil]

Originally Posted by Dog Shape Cloud

No argument on that solo, though I think my favorite Punch Brothers banjo moments are on the title track of that album.

If not New York City, my favorite Pikelny moment is at 3:35 of this song:

[Twinpeaksbirds]

Sometimes, after spending much time learning a new song, I get burned out on it. But I wouldn't say that I begin to dislike it. I can't seem to bring myself to learn a song unless I really like it to begin with.

[markrj]

Neil Young's "Down by the River".

Spent the time learning the chords, transposing it to my vocal range, practiced it up and had it ready to play publicly.

Then the lyrics hit me.

I haven't played it since.

I still love the music though.