Leonard Cohen. Image by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

By PJ Grisar May 26, 2020

Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” began its life, in 1984’s “Various Positions,” as a profoundly weird song with gospel choir accompaniment, a painfully-of-its-era drum machine and a stentorian and unemotive delivery from the poet himself. But you don’t really care for that music, do you?

For many, the template for all covers of Cohen’s initially unremarked ballad is Jeff Buckley’s pained, minimalist interpolation recorded shortly before his death in 1997 (Buckley’s own cover was informed by Welsh musician John Cale’s piano version from 1991). Now, every busker has the song in their repertoire, it was featured in “Shrek,” and the tune has even had viral traction in Yiddish. Bono did a trip-hop version. Everyone has a riff on this originally inaccessible track. The fact is not lost on comic and musician Matt Beuchele.

In a Memorial Day Twitter post, Beuchele impersonated a minyan of artists performing a verse from Cohen’s secular hymn. It’s great.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

10 singers sing hallelujah pic.twitter.com/orw02bWDTh

— Matt Buechele (@mattbooshell) May 25, 2020

While sticking to a minimal bed of piano, Beuchele summons crooner Tony Bennett, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, the last of whom was among the first to perform the song in concert and dug it for its “point-blank I-know-you-better-than-you-know-yourself aspect of the song,” whatever that means.

In a gesture to Cohen’s native Quebec, Celine Dion joins in (like she did in this clip). From here, the voices become unmistakable in their idiosyncracies. Kermit the Frog warbles out a few verses, paving the way for shabbos goy Elvis Presley, songstress Britney Spears, Oscar-winner Randy Newman and the unmistakable embouchure of Louis Armstrong. But the final guest sticks the landing with Beuchele’s nod to an unmistakable vocal tic from one of pop punk’s leading lights.

Here at the Grisar domicile, Beuchele received perfect 10s from two-thirds of the judges with the East German judge awarding him a 6.3. (The East German judge moonlights at Pitchfork.)

Cohen’s inventive, trippy and lyrically evocative song may have been cheapened in one too many earnest renditions. We commend Beuchele for cleansing our palate with his comedic take on the tune until we’re all outdoors — and subjected to endless street performer variations of it — once more.

PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture fellow. He can be reached at [email protected].

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount