THE CLICHES ARE HAVING A BALL

.

for those into any of the following: the OC, Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, music/pop culture and/or Zach Braff.

CLICKHERETOREAD

Interesting (and long) analysis of the journey of the song "Halleluja." A Leonard Cohen song originally performed quite a bit differently than the covered version you probably heard first on the OC or Scrubs or one of the other 24 movies or tv shows it has since graced with its presence.

It talks about 'emotional shorthand' and how this song is used in modern films and tv shows in a way that a woman with the back of her hand pressed against her forehead was used in silent films...whenever someone is in a really heart wrenching situation that may only be fully realized through music that already has that connotation. scratch that...it already has that definition.

it speaks of cliches and how sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. and sometimes, maybe even in the case of the Fall Out Boy cover, that you need to get a bunch of cliches together and have a celebration...and it just might work.

it also discusses the indie rock boom that the author claims was sparked by the OC, basically stating that this show (and others like it) introduce mass audiences to things that would have probably never caught their attention otherwise. stating that 'music is not an activity but an accompaniment--not something you listened to but something you watched other people listening to. In other words, it's lifestyle music.'

after my move out of St. Louis and into a bigger city, with more people, more 'lifestyle choices' to make, this last portion of the article was particularly interesting. when you expand your horizons and experiences by such a wide margin, suddenly it becomes glaringly obvious how much you truly have to just do your own thing...for fear of getting swallowed up with the crowd, or more devastatingly, begin to watch other people listening to music. or reading books, or seeing movies, or visiting museums, or anything else that you could be doing yourself.

at any rate, it made for some interesting reading and helped me realize yet another thing i love about this city: the celebration of cliches i walk amongst every day on the street.

don't think i don't know i am one them.


The Cohen Version (The Original)

VS

The OC Version (Jeff Buckley)

And, of course, the Marissa Cooper death scene.



.