"Halleluwah"
1971 German single cover
Single by Can
from the album Tago Mago
A-side"Turtles Have Short Legs"
Released1971
RecordedSchloss Nörvenich, Cologne
Genre
Length
  • 18:32 (album version)
  • 3:30 (single version)
LabelUnited Artists
Songwriter(s)Can
Producer(s)Can

"Halleluwah" (alternatively titled "Halleluhwah" on some post-1989 releases) is a song by the krautrock band Can, from their 1971 album Tago Mago. The track, which originally took up a whole side of long-playing vinyl record, lasts for 18 minutes and 28 seconds and is characteristic of the band's sound around 1971 in that it features a vast array of improvised guitars and keyboards, tape editing, and the rhythm section "pounding out a monster trance/funk beat".[4] The drum beat for which the song is famous is repeated almost continuously by Jaki Liebezeit, with only minor variations, throughout the course of the 18-minute jam. In one line of the song, Damo Suzuki's lyrics mention all the songs from side one of Tago Mago: "mushroom head, oh yeah, paper house."

The original UK pressing of Tago Mago misprinted the song's title as "Hallelujah" both on the LP's center label and on the back flap of the album jacket.

Other versions

A much shorter version of the song appears as the B-side to the band's 1971 single "Turtles Have Short Legs", and a different shortened version later saw release on Can's compilation album Cannibalism.

On vocalist Damo Suzuki's 1998 solo album V.E.R.N.I.S.S.A.G.E, a version of this song is performed along with "Mushroom", also from Tago Mago. His band at the time featured Jaki Liebezeit on drums.

The song appears on the 1997 remix album Sacrilege, being remixed by The Orb.

Samples

The song's drum part was sampled by Primal Scream for their 1997 single "Kowalski".[5]

The song's piano segment was sampled by A Tribe Called Quest on their final studio album We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service on the song "Lost Somebody".

Notes

  1. ^ Leas, Ryan (26 December 2013). "The Best Soundtrack Moments Of 2013". Stereogum. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  2. ^ "The Top 150 Albums of the '70s". Treble. 12 August 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  3. ^ Peñas, Enrique (2 November 2017). "Can, repasamos us carrera en nuestra sección Retrovisor". Mondo Sonoro (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  4. ^ Raggett, Ned. "Can - Tago Mago Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  5. ^ "Primal Scream's Kowalski sample of Can's Halleluwah". WhoSampled. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
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