Strange song Hallelujah; loads of great cover versions but the original stinks IMO and yet if you didn't know you'd bet your house on Cohen nailing perfectly. Too busy writing all 4576 verses to get the arrangement right, perhaps
Regardless of the arrangement, for me, Cohen's version is the definitive version. You can practically hear his tongue in his cheek throughout - the whole song is a pisstake. All cover versions I've heard have played the song completely straight, as if it's an epic love song. It isn't.
Far better than fucking
Mariah Carey's Jeff Buckley's overblown take on it anyway. Cale's version's pretty decent.
On the original topic, I prefer Emmylou Harris' version of Pancho And Lefty to Townes Van Zandt's original.