Singing priest's Hallelujah wows wedding guests

[J_Peterson]

Some group did a version of “Hallelujah”, they asked Cohen for the lyrics, and apparently he faxed over about thirty verses, and told them to pick what they wanted – apparently you can make the song hopeful or despairing, with sex or without, etc.

That said, I don’t think Fr Kelly used any of Cohen’s lyrics.

Just to be a know it all, it was John Cale (from the Velvet Underground) that requested the lyrics after he saw Cohen perform it live. His version was used in the movie Shrek but the soundtrack had Rufus Wainwright doing a note for note copy. John Cale did use a slightly different set of lyrics than Cohen’s recorded version. Cale’s is fairly sexully charged but overall I’d say the song is about loss (faith, love, etc). Not exactly appropriate for a wedding but I didn’t listen to the priest’s version. I’m really not a fan of changing an artists lyrics though as you may as well just write your own.