John Cale - Hallelujah 

I Think So 2

Same

Agreed

This is the version of the song that also should have been on the soundtrack album.

​@@darthkurlandthis version I heard on the VHS version, now on Netflix is Rufus.

Jared Ruff agreed. I had to go down a rabbit hole because I didn’t know the original creator and I got to hearing all the different versions but I have a soft spot for the Shrek version

@@Eleasha3 Right?

Me too. SO many good versions but this is the one that sticks in my mind. Leonard Cohen said KD Lang's version was best but I like this better.

Me too

Spencer Stark me three

@@dennisdunne588 me four! :)

I still do. I get chills head to toe. My favorite version of this song.

I'm so sorry for your loss

I'm sorry for your loss

Agreed

cam83093 In addition to its being the more popular version, this was a cover of a Canadian's song by a Welsh musician for a tribute album, organized by a French music magazine, with one American label and one European label. From what I had read, it got tangled up in international rights for re-releasing it on the movie's soundtrack…and because of this information, I can believe it.

Record companies do it all the time. Basically any time they use a version different from in the movie, that's because the recording on the CD is cheaper to license

They did the same for Bad Reputation too

Come on now we all know rufus wainwright sings it way better y'all

@@BlueWhale544 Not even close

Me too

As a songwriter myself, I wish I could say I agree with you. I appreciate the idea that a song is originally "written for its time" but those songs don't tend to age well. (I'm thinking protest songs of the 1960s, but you can find examples from any decade: 1950s sock hop, early 60s crooners, 70s punk and disco, 80s synth-pop, 90s boy bands, etc.) One thing any songwriter aspires to is NOT to write a song for its time, but to write a song that happens to be timeless. And there are so many instances where the cover version of a song is SO superior to the original recording. No less than Bob Dylan has said that "All Along the Watchtower" now belongs to Jimi Hendrix. (Dylan is right.) Trent Reznor said the same about Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt." (Reznor is right.) Prince is one of my favorite artists of all time, and Sinead O'Conner is most definitely not. Yet I cannot deny her version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" far exceeds Prince's version. The Beatles "Twist and Shout" is true rock-and-roll rebellion in the face of the polite Isley Brothers original. Otis Redding brings a lot of sass to his original composition "Respect," but it's Aretha Franklin who actually demands that respect. In each case, the original is NOT the best version. Often, the cover version is so much better that people don't even know there's an original version out there by someone else. Kim Carnes's "Bette Davis Eyes" beats out the original by miles. (Quick: name the original artist of that one!) Santana's "Black Magic Woman" beats out the Fleetwood Mac original. I love Juice Newton's "Angel of the Morning" and she had a massive hit with it, unlike the first recording by Evie Sands (who?) and later Billie Davis. Willie Nelson owns the song "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" so much that people have no idea it wasn't written by him, and was first recorded way back in the 1940s by Roy Acuff. Sometimes it's open to interpretation of course: a lot of people prefer Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" over Dolly Parton's original - again, are people even aware that Dolly Parton wrote and recorded it? - but in that case I do happen to prefer Dolly's original. I think I'm in the minority on that one! One thing to ask about any cover song: What attracted the covering artist in the first place? Sometimes the covering artist hears something in the music that the original artist had no idea was even there. In the case of "Hallelujah," listening to the Leonard Cohen original, you get the sense he had no idea what a true religious experience he had composed. It's in Jeff Buckley and in John Cale that we reach a transcendent, spiritual moment. With the Leonard Cohen version - sorry, I have no idea what he's after, except bombast. I know he wrote the song, but I don't think he understood precisely what was special about it. In short, no, the original does not have to be the best version.

@@RDRussell2 One of the most thoughtful comments on the webz. Thanks.

I have a copy of sherk on dvd and the Rufus Wainwright version of Hallejuah was in/on it

Bingo! liscensing is a bitch sometimes for physical discs

Imitoes Shrek é aquele filme q vc respeita

Sorry I dont speak italian

@@kelvingomes7242 brasileiro como sempre, sendo ignorante..

Me 2

Me too

Hate to tell you, this IS NOT a religious song.

@@germanshepherd5314 Yeah I sort of thought. Thanks for telling me. But that doesn't change the fact that Jesus loves you and died for you on the cross.

@Albert Wood 💜💜

@Albert Wood I hope so my friend. Thanks for the kind message too, I've had a rough day

I had the chance to ask him that directly one time. Rights issues. He didn't elaborate.

It isn't a religious song, if you really listen to it. It's the epitomme of all broken heart songs and a tribute to why most couples fail. Also, not sure it is the full version with all the lyrics, there are two versions and the complete one gives much more insight

Go back and watch the movie again and get back to us.

Written by Leonard Cohen Performed by John Cale