Our discussion of authenticity (during meeting 5) in songs and the difference between song-as-composition and song-as-performance ended up at this interesting example. We listened to three versions of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’, performed by Cohen himself, Jeff Buckley and the X Factor contestant Alexandra Burke. When we’d got past the inevitable cultural subjectivity (all right, derision!) that many of the group exhibited toward the Burke version, we found ourselves at a very interesting point – that for many, the ‘authentic’ version was the Buckley one, despite the fact that Buckley was recording on a major label, with an MTV-friendly video directed by a professional video director, performing a song written by someone else. Does this show the subjective nature of authenticity? Or the power of martyrdom?
Prince – When Doves Cry – original video. For background information and academic links, go to the Reading pages.
Here’s an interesting 1996 Timbaland-produced cover version by Ginuwine that uses a different underlying groove, taking a different approach from what Don Traut (2005) describes as “3-5″ accent hook (note the lack of syncopation in the drum loop compared to Prince’s original).
DON TRAUT (2005). ‘Simply Irresistible’: recurring accent patterns as hooks in mainstream 1980s music. Popular Music, 24 , pp 57-77
doi:DOI:10.1017/S0261143004000303
Katharine Ellis has very kindly made available a room courtesy of the IMR, and we shall be meeting at 2.30pm on Wednesday, June 10th, in Room ST274/5 (Stewart House/32 Russell Square). Past meetings have focused on matters of theory – what I’d like to do with this meeting is to focus on a specific track, namely Prince’s ‘When Doves Cry’, and ask participants to come along willing to talk about the methodology/ies they would apply to consideration of that track, and with what particular end in view. (I know there’s more than one issue of the recording available – choose whichever you will.)
If you are intending to come, I’d appreciate a quick email, just so that we get a sense of how many to expect. And, as ever, feel free to pass this on to colleagues who may like to attend.
Here’s our first blog page – a little later than promised, but it’s here. We’re using the edublogs/Wordpress engine, which supports most of the standard blogging tools, and (most importantly) allows us to post of audio for discussion.
Our discussion of authenticity (during meeting 5) in songs and the difference between song-as-composition and song-as-performance ended up at this interesting example. We listened to three versions of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’, performed by Cohen himself, Jeff Buckley and the X Factor contestant Alexandra Burke. When we’d got past the inevitable cultural subjectivity (all right, derision!) that many of the group exhibited toward the Burke version, we found ourselves at a very interesting point – that for many, the ‘authentic’ version was the Buckley one, despite the fact that Buckley was recording on a major label, with an MTV-friendly video directed by a professional video director, performing a song written by someone else. Does this show the subjective nature of authenticity? Or the power of martyrdom?