Z, you stole my answer. I like John Cale's version a great deal. As a teen I played the original "Songs of Leonard Cohen" until all of the tracks were white on the album. I loved "Teachers", "Sisters of Mercy", and "The Stranger Song".
From his later work I rather liked
"First We Take Manhattan". There was a great version of it on the "I'm Your Fan" tribute album performed by REM.