The Mount Lourdes student, Lucy O’Connor, who wrote the lyrics to the singing priests rendition of Hallelujah.
THE video of Fr Ray Kelly singing Hallelujah at a County Meath wedding has racked up over 24 million hits on YouTube – but it’s all thanks to an Enniskillen girl who inspired the idea several years ago.
The priest has become a YouTube sensation with his cover – including amended lyrics – of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah to a shocked congregation the weekend before last.
But, the inspiration for the video came from Lucy O’Connor, a student at Mount Lourdes in Enniskillen.
Back in 2010, Lucy’s godmother Mary Pakenham (formerly Magee), married John, at St Joseph’s Church, Cradien, Enniskillen.
And, because her own parish priest was unavailable, Mary sought the help of John’s parish priest, who happened to be Fr Ray Kelly, of Oldcastle County Meath.
“Fr Ray officiated the wedding wonderfully and sang ‘You raise me up’ – you can see this clip on Youtube and it has a huge amount of views) and then my god daughter Lucy got up to sing as we were signing the register. She had written the song herself, and was 10 at the time.”
Mary went on: “Fr Ray loved the song as did the people at our wedding,so he asked for a copy of the words. Ever since our wedding Fr Ray sings Lucy’s song to the backing track of Hallelujah at all weddings he officiates at. We are delighted that he is bringing so much happiness to so many newly married couples and wish him all the best in future ventures.”
And, the priest even mentioned Lucy during his appearance on the Late Late Show on RTE on Friday night.
You can see Lucy’s original version at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pIW4rPpOmw.
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