Over the last two-three weeks, I watched a number of shows that featured a slow, plaintive song with a refrain in which the artists repeated the word "Hallelujah" a few times. The song is, of course, named "Hallelujah" and is a Leonard Cohen song originally.
There are a few websites that refer to music from various shows, and this helped narrow things down a bit. One that was useful was:
Blogcritics
These sites and my musically-inclined friends led me to find a whole list of people who sing this song. Some are quite good versions.
kd lang
Allison Crowe
Rufus Wainwright
Daisy Chapman
Jeff Buckley (probably the most popular version)
Angelou
Steve Acho
Brandi Carlile
Elisa
The small snippets of these songs I heard on iTunes indicated that, while good, none of these were the precise version for which I was searching. I went back to the 'net to see if there were any other versions that might have been found. I found this website:
Stylus
Sure enough, the John Cale version-- which was hard to find a good snippet of to listen to-- appears to be the precise version that I liked so much. (The Stylus website also mentions a great TV moment; read the description of #2 for the episode "My Screwup.")
Some TV shows have tried to facilitate their viewers' desires to buy the music they present. However, even these shows do not do a great job of telling you what every song is-- I can't tell you how often I have watched Smallville, enjoyed a song, and it was not one of the ones mentioned at the end of the program.
But other shows, especially the dramas, make little to no effort to help the viewers find good music. It is unfortunate, as they could really get a synergy going between the production companies and the music industries. I am willing to bet the music industry would see bumps in these songs and albums if both they and the TV productions companies would make the effort. Win-win for both groups.
I am off to see if I can find the John Cale version of "Hallelujah" as a single song, since iTunes appears not to have it. Wish me luck!
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