TV and film keep Leonard’s hit ‘Hallelujah’ alive after death
EONARD Cohen is no more, but his song “Hallelujah” is immortal. This Christmas, a shy elephant (voiced by Tori Kelly) sings it on a pile of rubble in the animated film “Sing.”
But Kelly can’t claim credit for the most bizarre cover of “Hallelujah” this year: That honor must go to Kate McKinnon for her “Sad Hillary” version that aired on “SNL.”
Let’s look back at some of the greatest covers of Cohen’s masterpiece in the movies and on TV:
John Cale: Recorded in 1992, this version gave the song a bump in popularity when it played in 2001’s “Shrek” in a scene in which all seems lost. Shrek tells Donkey to go away as Princess Fiona prepares for her marriage to awful Lord Farquaad.
Rufus Wainwright: The commercially released CD of songs from “Shrek,” a DreamWorks production, featured Wainwright’s version instead of Cale’s because Wainwright was a recording artist with DreamWorks’ music division. Jeff Buckley: The 1994 version popped up everywhere, but may be best known for its use in the Season 3 finale of “The West Wing” in 2002 and as the background music for the end of the first season of “The O.C.” in 2004.
k.d. lang: The Canadian singer performed her countryman’s classic at the globally televised opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Adam Sandler: At the Superstorm Sandy relief concert held at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 12, 2012, Sandler rewrote Cohen’s lyrics and turned the song into a hilarious gesture of comedic defiance. Sample lines: “Hallelujah/Sandy, screw ya/ We’ll get through ya/’Cause we’re New Yorkers.”