K.d. Lang @ Elton John Benefit - "Hallelujah"

Beautiful song so very beautifully done! KD draws you in, holds you, mesmorizes you... she has such emotion! Absolutely stunning voice!! My favorite by far of this rendition!

3:52 I love how she pushes the 'luuuuu! Chills!

I agree! I am sitting here mouthing the words with her...I don't want to sing and ruin what I'm hearing.

This version is absolutely awesome... Thanks a lot for uploading!

what the hell is this. i want elton john not this phony bastard!? :(

unbelievable- stunning-chilling-

One of the most talented singers there has ever been.

Love k d lang.....she has the voice of an angel ! This is a real singer. Hallelujah !

Jeez,I could watch her til the cows come home!! She takes my breath away! Am glad no one is videoing me watching this cos the expressions on my face must be a picture! She draws you in and makes you truly feel every emotion that she is obviously feeling. Astounding...just one of her many brilliant performances!

kd lang is absolutely THE BEST - she puts her heart and her soul into her singing, and she takes you to all the emotions that she feels and you absolutely soar with her! Thanks for posting this first class gem!!! :-))

not to get too analytic here after such sublimnity, but david and bathsheba not only biblical reference, nor only other genre reference. samson and delilah: saw her in the moonlight, her beauty overthrew you, she tied you to the kitchen chair she broke your throne and cut your hair.paraphrased - the song gets everyone at the core because of the deep sense of love and betrayal. maybe a god above, but the only thing i learned of love was how to shoot when they outdrew ya-any western.

just stunning

It simply doesn't get any better than this!

What ever K.D.Lang sings has got to be the best .I love her

Such Talent---Such Passion..........Such Transcendent Perfection.....

KD--WiLL you MARRY ME??

LOL

((whew. she always takes my breath away))

agreed! :D

that perfect note she holds at the end. NOBODY does that.

lontok, i think it's "the holy dark"

Elton John doesn't do AIDS benefits anymore, only Cancer but Jimmy Buffet is available.

I agree with your interpretation of this song, Lontok. If anything is truly "religious" it is the experience one has of listening to this woman sing. If you have never seen her in concert you must do this before you die. I have seen her 4 times (only because she does not frequent Dallas enough) and she brings tears to your eyes and chills down your arms. She is a sensuality and spirituality embodied.

I think the lyric is very much about the 'spirituality' of human love. It's saying that such love is godly in itself. I include sex (love-making) within that, not as something sorid, but as a very rich, beautiful expression of love. And it's sad, the lyric, because, as Vincero2006 points out, it's about the loss of such a love. David is a fitting subject for the song because his love for Bathsheba was oh so very human, but it's no more just about David than Hamlet is just about Hamlet.

The verse she doesn't sing goes:

'There was a time when you let me know
What was really going on below,
Buty now you never show it to me, do you?
Remember when I moved in you?
The holy dove was moving, too,
And every breath we drew was hallelujah.'

Religious in overtone, yes, but most definitely about the very human act of love-making.

Incredible song.

I agree it deals with David's lyre playing and his affair with Bathsheba - but that was a sexual affair that brought forth a child, so I fail to see how one can think it is not about love *and* sex. Plus, one of the verses that KD doesn't sing is very much about *making love* (next post):

"Hallelujah"
stunning.
Wonderfull song and she makes it even more wonderfull

You are right about how beautiful this song is and how perfectly it is performed by K D Lang.
Cohen's background is Jewish, so he is probably very familiar with the Old Testament part of the Bible. Cohen is known for mixing religious and human (love) metaphores. Grab a Bible and take a couple of minutes and read .. 2nd Samuel, Chapter 11, verses 1 thru 17. You will see for yourself where the beginning of the inspiration of this song comes from.