BLOGS by Claudia Goulder
HALLELUJAH? ONLY IF IT'S THE BUCKLEY VERSION
Monday December 22,2008
By Claudia Goulder
Alexandra has admitted she doesn't even like Hallelujah
My heart sank when I heard the news that X Factor winner Alexandra Burke's debut single would be a cover version of Leonard Cohen's 1984 hymn Hallelujah.
Not because I dislike it, you understand, but because I like it so very, very much.
This is a song that, listened to as a child, I thought of love and death, cathedrals, candles and things far bigger than we can ever imagine. I thought it had always existed in the world like Little Donkey and Away In A Manger.
When, years later, Jeff Buckley sang it, hairs pricked the back of my neck in uncanny recognition, eyes stung with salty nostalgia as the sweet tendril notes raised and fell in major, minor bliss.
And when Rufus Wainwright covered it more recently, memories of Cohen and Buckley flooded back as the subtly sombre singer-songwriter did his best to emulate their haunting, tender tones.
Now cut to present day and who do we have honouring this blessed prayer of a song, hymn to hymn-making? Not Paul Simon or Joni Mitchell, Don McLean or even Bruce Springsteen.
Nope. A 20-year-old from North London who admits she was “gutted” when she first heard she’d have to sing that song because it “just didn’t do anything for me”.
• Read Full BLOG
SACK ROSS AND BRAND? DON'T BE SO STUPID
Wednesday October 29,2008
By Claudia Goulder
Brand and Ross: The BBC needs them
I feel sorry for Andrew Sachs, aka Manuel from Fawlty Towers, who was the target of an on-air joke between Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross.
The 78-year-old was left “embarrassed and upset” after receiving a string of calls made during Brand’s late-night Radio 2 show.
That's a shame. But it doesn't mean that Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand, who were suspended today, should now be fired.
BLOG: IS JONATHAN ROSS ACTUALLY FUNNY?
• Read Full BLOG
AM I THE ONLY PERSON WHO THINKS THIS CREDIT CRUNCH IS A GOOD THING?
Thursday October 16,2008
By Claudia Goulder
What goes up has to come down - even money
Credits crunch, pensions collapse, unemployment rates soar, doom and gloom abounds.
I, for one, can’t pretend to be scared.
Yes, house prices are tumbling and people are losing jobs.
And yes, even the middle classes are affected (they can’t afford to go skiing or eat at Strada quite as often).
But common sense tells me it’s a good thing. This has to happen. And does money and saving and assets really matter that much, anyway?
The fact is, our economic system is lunatic and suicidal, and it deserves to go down.
It’s built on the myth that unlimited shoes, bags, cars, ready meals – you name it - are a possibility on a planet of limited resources.
Anyone intelligent could have told you a mighty storm was brewing. Michael Foot tried his best in the midst of an economic crisis in 1976 when, at the Labour party conference, he insisted that: "We face an economic typhoon of unparalleled ferocity, the worst the world has seen since the 1930s.”
He then called for 'socialist imagination'
• Read Full BLOG
IF YOU HATE THIS FAMILY, YOU REALLY HATE YOURSELF
Thursday October 9,2008
By Claudia Goulder
Freud would have loved this lot
People say television has created today's manners, morals and aspirations, that ghastly shows like EastEnders and Big Brother have the power to turn us from dignified, courteous individuals into selfish monsters who feel free to shout, swear, hug and rant whenever the mood takes us.
I don't know about that.
It is, of course, more than just a mirror on our society, but the way it changes us is surely two-way: we are symbiotically linked to our trusty square friend.
This is why I think The Family, the new eight-part fly-on-the-wall series from Channel 4, is so fascinating.
It acts like a comfort blanket because it continually tells us things we already know, but quite like to be reminded of. We see ourselves in members of The Family, as they sit around the TV night after night, wincing as the door slams and the eldest remaining daughter strides out in boots and a boob tube, into the night.
Truisms and clichés abound ...and yet this is compelling stuff.
We are told, for instance, that parents worry desperately for their chi
• Read Full BLOG
FASHION. JUST TELL ME, WHAT'S THE POINT?
Monday September 15,2008
By Claudia Goulder
A model wears a creation by Todd Lynn during London Fashion Week today. Apparently...
Fashion is a club I will never be a part of. It speaks a language I do not understand.
For that reason this time of year - London Fashion Week - always leaves me diving for cover.
Yes, I am a diary journalist and my job is to report on social events. No, I do not fancy sipping champagne with the hat wearing, air-kissing mafia. Fashion, to me, is the joke that takes itself seriously.
It's the Emporer's new clothes and his ghastly, obsequious weavers. It's designers waxing lyrical about 'meaning' and 'philosophy' behind such inane items as shoes and bags. It's supermodels and pointless blog posts.
Doing some "research" for this little rant I have just come across Erin O'Connor's blog entitled, in all seriousness: "LFW Wardrobe: Day One".
The so-called "super intelligent" clothes horse proceeds to give a detailed account of that day's ever-so crucial wardrobe selection.
"Monday morning; I decided on a Jaeger coat, belt and bag, teamed with Yohji Yamamoto trousers, a Phillip Lim blouse and YSL shoes," she writes... in earnest.
With this attention to
• Read Full BLOG
|
Video 
