Only Cohen would rhyme 'Hallelujah' with 'what's it to ya?

Kiwi-Gull,

Welcome to the Cabin.

Oh, and for anyone curious about the title of this thread, that comes from one of the (many) alternate verses for this song (supposedly Cohen wrote about 80 draft verses of this song, and in his later years in performing it would often use alternate verses). Here's one that has "What's it to yah...", which I've occasionally slipped in myself.

You say I took the name in vain        
I don't even know the name        
But if I did, well really, what's it to you? 
There's a blaze of light in every word 
It doesn't matter which you heard 
The holy or the broken Hallelujah 

CHORUS: Hallelujah...

For me, if I'm singing lead on a song (as opposed to just singing harmonies) and playing an instrument (bass or guitar), I prefer to have the instrumental part completely memorized so I can play it largely on 'automatic pilot' with muscle memory and not think about it. That way, I can put all my attention on the singing. 

The problem is that because I play solo gigs (where I play guitar and sing all the songs with a 'songbook' of about 100 tunes) and also play in a band (where I play bass, share half the lead vocals with another band member, and have a songbook of about 70 different songs), I don't have everything memorized. I have an iPad with both lists on it, with the chords and lyrics for all the songs—and I have to have that in front of me.

Still, if for some reason I have to think about what the next chord or note is, I can pretty much guarantee I'll fumble either the playing or the singing or both -- which you can hear occasionally in these first take recordings of mine. 

Again, for me, when I've done audio-only demos, I lay down just the basic chords first, then layer in a second 'fancier' backing guitar track (and sometimes, but not always, delete the original guitar track). Then I'll put away the guitar and sing the lead, then add any harmony parts. Finally, I might add a final guitar track for solos. If I wanted to do a really 'good' video, I'd do it pretty much the same way.

I definitely sing better if I'm not also playing. Well, I feel that way, anyhow. Whether it's true or not, well... 

The version by k.d.lang is indeed stellar. I far prefer it to the version by Rufus Wainwright, which strikes me mostly as wimpy and lacking power (with apologies to all Rufus Wainwright fans.)