The most unexpectedly great performance at the Hope For Haiti Now telethon came courtesy of Justin Timberlake. It’s not that I don’t expect a good performance by Timberlake — on the contrary, he’s very talented — but I’ve never seen him like this.
Here’s a guy whose biggest musical splash came on SNL with ‘Dick in a Box’ and ‘Motherlover.’ And when he’s not cracking jokes, his most enduring compositions are dance pop hits like ‘Cry Me a River’ and ‘SexyBack.’ All entertaining and well-crafted songs, but they ain’t ‘Hallelujah.’
And not only is ‘Hallelujah’ a meaty, emotional, difficult song for Timberlake to tackle, he’s also following in the footsteps of some really excellent performers. Leonard Cohen wrote the song, of course, and it’s since been covered by the likes of Rufus Wainwright, John Cale, k.d. lang and (in what’s become the definitive version) the late Jeff Buckley. Adding your name to the list takes some guts.
And damned if he didn’t pull it off with flying colors, delivering one of the finest performances of this song I’ve heard.
I also like that he invited his Mickey Mouse Club friend Matt Morris to perform with him. I’m assuming it went down that way… I doubt George Clooney called Matt Morris first. I hope Morris, a singer/songwriter whose debut album came out this year, got a boost from this performance. Fun fact: Morris is gay and married his husband in California during the brief time when it was legal. It’s probably some sort of reverse prejudice that makes me like him more because of his sexual preference, but I can live with that.
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do ya?
Well it goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Well Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
she tied you to her kitchen chair
And she broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Well baby I’ve been here before
I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew ya
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Well there was a time when you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show that to me do you?
And remember when I moved in you?
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Well maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who’d OUT DREW YA
And it’s not a cry that you hear at night
It’s not somebody who’s seen in the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Meet Me In Montauk 
This was one of my very favorite performances of the night, and I was so curious to learn more about “the guy playing with Timberlake,” as nobody had any idea initially who he was. (as for your admission you like him more b/c of his personal life… I took Harvard’s implicit association test, and, I, too, have “a strong preference for homosexual people.”)
Of course, you have neglected to mention one of the more important performances of this great song. When Jason Castro sang it in the third week of semifinals on American Idol a couple of years ago, it was a game changer. His impeccable taste served him well week in and week out (he also covered Sting’s “Fragile” and the Beatles “If I Fell”), but this was early on in the competition and he introduced this song to some of the 30,000,000 people who watch Idol. After Jeff Buckley’s version rocketed to the top of the iTunes sales charts, AI had to scramble to come up with new ways to disguise the influence and fan base certain contestants had.
No other song covered by any contestant (or mentor) in the eight seasons of Idol has ever had the boost “Hallelujah” had when Castro performed it. So… seeing as he also has a new album dropping any moment now, I figured it’s only right to give him his due. 🙂
by the way, I love how he cracks on the last note, is certain he’s going to be destroyed by the judges, and then he stands there and is shocked that they don’t even mention it because they so loved that he did that song and that he did it with such emotional honesty. He later talked about how he was amazed they didn’t even mention it (thought they did have him rerecord the last note for the iTune release).
I too was blown away by this performance when I saw it. Timberlake is one of those performers who I initially wrote off based purely on reputation before I ever heard him sing anything. He was, to me, the light weight pop artist boy band guy who dated Britney. But then I saw him on SNL, and it was clear that he had talent, not only as a singer, but also as a comedian/actor.
Still, even after my opinion of him changed post-SNL and after seeing some very good performances on award shows, I was still surprised at just how wonderful he performed “Hallelujah” on the Hope For Haiti special. I will no longer underestimate his talent.
Uh oh, here she goes again with the Idol embeds! 😉
Amazing performance by JT and Matt Morris (who I hadn’t heard of before). I didn’t see the whole Hope for Haiti Now show, so I missed this one. I’ve always been a closet JT fan (though I don’t own any of his or NSYNC’s cds) so I’m not surprised that this was so well done.
My only question is, when did Justin start contorting his face a la John Mayer?? This I don’t like! 🙂
Both JT and Amy’s cute guy (who looks too pretty to be a guy) did a wonderful job on this song.
Jason Castro is my “cute guy,” and many think he looks like John Travolta, which I can see. He’s also Jeanne’s guy; she loved and voted for him almost as much as I did 🙂