‘On the Radio’

Although what I call The Hallelujah Effect is all about cover versions, I did not heard Cohen’s Hallelujah for the first time in such a version by another singer, but as sung by Cohen himself. 

Naturally enough and to be precise, I should say that I didn’t actually “hear” Cohen at all or in a “real” sense, because I was not in his physical presence. Of course not. 

And the point here is that the claim that one has “heard” a singer, any singer, any performer, is almost never meant as the report of an immediate or direct experience. 

This is different in practice from the classical enthusiast who usually means that he or she has heard this or that performer in concert, but even there, familiarity with a recorded performance can also be what is meant. 








In general, we take technical reproduction or mediation for granted, and we pay no particular mind to the where or the how of it.