Several weeks ago, whilst my wife and I were adding our individual “u” and “e” to the ever-increasing queue to get into the Los Darks Festival in Santa Ana, California, I had an epiphany about a song that was playing by Mareux (he was currently on stage):
It’s a cover!
“The Perfect Girl”—his signature darkwave, atmospheric, moody, synthesizer-driven tune—is a cover of The Cure song, first released on their album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987).
Which got me musing…
We’ve all been at the pub with our dates, mates, and Speight’s, listening (and dancing) to the house band going through their set. Unfortunately, they endeavour to make each song sound like how it was performed by the original artist.
Yeah, nah.
I want my house band to go rogue. I want them to make it their own, imbue it with their own creative spark, exercise their musical alchemy. I want my covers to be original, a rendition so unique that when you realize it’s a cover song, you default to your inner Brit and exclaim:
“You’re joking!”
Which got me musing…
In one sense, we’re all cover artists. We are each afforded the opportunity to reflect our unique soul-spark bestowed by our universal Creative Artist. We are all derived from the same Cosmic Source, only different. To repeat the modern aphorism: “You do you; everyone else is already taken.”
So, in the spirit of same song, only different, and a tip of the Jacaru to the Top Ten List format made famous by Mr. David Letterman on his late-night talk show, from the home office in Oban, Rakiura, New Zealand, here are my top ten covers and the reasons why:
1. Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho
"Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" is a spiritual composed by enslaved African Americans probably in the first half of the nineteenth century.
This song reminds me of my childhood. Sundays often included visiting Nana and Poppa and going to the Salvation Army Church. My poppa played trombone, and during the ride home, we would sing Christian songs—“Jesus Loves Me,” “The Devil Is a Sly Old Fox,” and “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho” are a few that come to mind.
The singsong tradition has come full circle. I’m now Poppa, and along with Grandma, we sing harmony with our grandson, Silas, as we travel to church. In addition to the songs listed, he also likes “I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart."
Where?
Down in my heart, mate!
Paul Robeson and Elvis Presley do excellent covers, but Mahalia Jackson’s is my favourite.
Her voice reverberates throughout the song with such passion, power, and potency that all walls of impediment to human actualization—especially the oppressed—must “come tumbling down.”
2. My Way
The original was a French pop song entitled, “Comme d’habitude,” written by Claude Francois and Jacques Revaux (1967). Paul Anka transformed it into “My Way,” which Frank Sinatra made famous.
Cover by Sid Vicious
My musical coming-of-age was in the late seventies in West Auckland, New Zealand. British music, especially punk music, was a cornerstone of my musical taste, including the Sex Pistols. Sid Vicious was a member of the band (he replaced Glen Matlock,) and his version was more an anti-cover to the classic made by the Chairman of the Board. It spoke to my membership in teenagers-of-the-bored.
3. Mony, Mony
The original was written by Bobby Bloom, Ritchie Cordell, Bo Gentry, and Tommy James and released by Tommy James and the Shondells (1968).
Cover by Billy Idol (live version, 1987)
Growing up, I had never heard the original song, but I loved Billy’s version. He truly “Idolized” it with a British bad-boy energy, a leather jacket and sneer. Mea Culpa: I did practice the sneer in the bathroom mirror while listening to the song on the radio.
4. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
The song was released on May 26, 1967, by the Beatles on their album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The Fab Four are and always will be my favourite group of all time. If my life had a soundtrack, it would be composed of songs written and performed by John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The first album—vinyl no less—I ever bought was from The Liverpool Lads, from a secondhand record store on Great North Road in Henderson, West Auckland.
Cover by Sir Elton John
Sir Elton John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on February 24, 1998, at Buckingham Palace. It was for “services to music and charitable services.”
From my perspective (the Commonwealth cheap seats), this cover motivates me to add the honorific title “Sir” when referring to Elton Hercules John.
Sir Elton transforms a hazy, mellow, meandering trip “on a boat on a river” into an Icon of the Seas mega-cruise with its own pop anthem and a climactic, energetic refrain:
“Lucy in the sky with diamonds.”
5. I Fought the Law
The song was written by Sonny Curtis and released in 1959 by his band, The Crickets.
Cover by The Clash
The Clash’s cover appeals to my punk-rock sensibilities and is a reminder that I was once a part of the law (Number 94 Recruit Wing, NZPC).
The aggressive energy reminds me of a particular middle-of-the-night scuffle I was involved in on Great North Road, Auckland.
The law won.
6. A Forest
The song was released on April 8, 1980, by The Cure on their second album, Seventeen Seconds (see previous blog, “Seventeen Seconds).
Cover by Bat for Lashes
English auteur Natasha Khan is the creative energy behind the moniker.
I hear her voice
Calling my name
The sound is deep
In the dark
Her haunting voice, hypnotic synth chord, and electronic drum machine invite me to transcend the rings-pass-not limits of passive listening into a mystical soundscape “running towards nothing, again and again and again.”
7. Smells Like Teen Spirit
The original song was released on September 10, 1991, on Nirvana’s second studio album, Nevermind, and was the sonic herald of Grunge music, its epicenter being Seattle, Washington.
On its release, I was in my late twenties, living in the U.S., but with sufficient teen angst samskaras (and un-Met Gala-esque wardrobe) to appreciate what the song expressed. And I do aspire “to be worst at what I do best.”
Cover by The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
Sometimes the best antidote to angst, lyric paradoxes, and the stench of melancholy is to have a good laugh, nay, guffaw. This orchestral cover delivers!
Pip, pip, cheerio!
8. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
For those living under a large stone that has never rolled, shifted, moved, or been displaced, the original is by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. It was released as a single in the United States in June 1965.
Cover by Devo
If rockstars Mick, Keith, and the lads “can’t get no satisfaction,” what hope is there for the rest of us yobbos? And how does anyone cover and reimagine Keith Richards’ three-note opening guitar riff.
Welcome Devo.
In their 1978 debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo, the band “de-evolves” and subverts the sexy, virile frustration of the original into a corporate, frantic, high-pitched repressed mantra:
I can’t get no satisfaction
I can’t get no satisfaction
Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no
So come on, slip on your yellow radiation suit and don your red energy dome hat and let’s while away another lifetime on the commercial and sensory treadmill:
No satisfaction
No satisfaction
9. Personal Jesus
The original is a song by the English band Depeche Mode and appeared on their seventh album, Violator, released March 19, 1990.
Cover by Johnny Cash
As a Kiwi, I am drawn to all things black—All Blacks, Black Caps, Ice Blacks, and Tall Blacks. I also like wearing the colour and listening to The Man in Black.
I am all for having a personal relationship with Christ Jesus, and Cash’s version speaks to that in a somber and intimate tone, more so than the high-energy, synthesizer-driven original.
The original reminds me of a house band at some megachurch where the minster has poofed-up hair and perfect teeth, and wears Nike Air Yeezy 2 sneakers.
Cash’s cover reminds me of a world-weary singer with a guitar slung over his shoulder, walking a country road in the sweltering midday sun to Damascus, Maryland, for a church social.
When Cash sings:
“Your own personal Jesus
someone to hear your prayers
someone who cares,”
I sense he is recounting the sentiment from personal experience. It resonates with me.
10. Don’t Dream It’s Over
For the last track—you knew I was going there—it had to be southern hemispherical. The original was the fourth track on Crowded House’s debut album, Crowded House, released in June 1986. Cheers to Neil Finn, Nick Seymour, and Paul Hester (RIP, mate).
Cover by Sixpence None the Richer
The cover doesn’t completely meet the criteria I list above, but I love the feminine energy Leigh Nash, the lead singer, brings to the song. I am also enamored by the name of the band (I’ll let you C. S. Lewis aficionados dig out the “sixpence” reference to that literary Christmas pudding).
I am also pleased to report that both the original and the cover have received a lot of playing time at the grocery stores I visit in SoCal. I have had a few “hey now” encounters while manhandling my avocadoes, apples, and apricots in the produce department.
Maybe that’s why great covers resonate so deeply—they remind us that originality isn’t about inventing a new song but singing it in our own voice.
What cover song made you say, “You’re joking!”—and why?
© 2026
