Leonard Cohen's estate slams Republicans' use of 'Hallelujah' as bid to politicize

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The estate of Leonard Cohen said on Friday it was considering legal action over the use of the Canadian singer’s “Hallelujah” at the Republican National Convention (RNC), calling it a brazen attempt to politicize the song.

A recording of “Hallelujah” by Tori Kelly was played during a fireworks display on Thursday night that followed President Donald Trump’s acceptance speech for the Republican nomination.

A second, more operatic version, was performed on camera by American tenor Christopher Macchio.

Cohen’s estate said in a statement that it was “surprised and dismayed” the song had been used, saying it had specifically denied the RNC’s request to do so.

It said it was exploring legal options and called the RNC’s decision a “rather brazen attempt to politicize and exploit in such an egregious manner ‘Hallelujah’, one of the most important songs in the Cohen song catalogue.”

“Had the RNC requested another song, ‘You Want it Darker’, for which Leonard won a posthumous Grammy in 2017, we might have considered approval of that song,” the statement added. /snip

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-convention-leonard-cohen-idUSKBN25O344?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook

[Withywindle]

1. Excellent shade from the Cohen estate!

This is "You Want it Darker." It's...dark. And would have been a hell of a lot more appropriate.

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[Withywindle]

2. Cohen was a Canadian Jewish anti-fascist who would have been horrified and furious

at everything the Trump regime stands for. It was merciful that he died the day before the 2016 election.

[msongs]

3. repubs only hear hallelujah - they clearly dont know all the words lol nt

[Withywindle]

4. I don't think any covers are better than the original but here's one of my favorites

Translated into Yiddish!


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[pazzyanne]

7. Beautiful and haunting.

Thank you for sharing. I love "Hallelujah", but always feel a little sad when I hear it. The Yiddish translation sheds light on the "why".

[Withywindle]

12. It's a sad song

Bittersweet at least. It's so tone-deaf to use it as some kind of rousing fascist rally thing. (And don't get me started on the Christian rewrites)

[Arkansas Granny]

10. I work with a man whose father-in-law died this year. He was a retired preacher. "Hallelujah" was

sung at his funeral by his granddaughters. I wondered at the time of they had really listened to the lyrics or if they had substituted lyrics that were more appropriate.

It made me think of an interview I saw with Sting where he talked about the number of people who had told him they played "Every Breath You Take" at their wedding. They didn't realize it was about stalking.

[Sherman A1]

5. The GOP seems to have this problem

On a regular basis. Apparently they believe that all creative efforts belong to them.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Two thoughts:

1. Do you remember Kate McKinnon singing "Hallelujah" as Hillary Clinton on SNL after the shock of the election in 2016 as if to try to soothe us? That's why the RNC/Trump choose that song. To mock us.

2. If the DNC came after the RNC, it would have played this Cohen song in response: Democracy Is Coming to the U.S.A.

[pazzyanne]

8. I cried my way through this SNL presentation of "Hallelujah".

It was right after the 2016 election and became part of my grieving process.

[murielm99]

9. Don't remind me about Kate McKinnon.

She was paying tribute to Cohen and Hillary both. But it breaks my heart to think about what we lost.

I can barely breathe when I think about it.

[JI7]

11. Why are they playing the commie socialist liberal antifa blm type music ?