"Bad Cover Version" is a song by British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material * ...

, from their 2001

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

We Love Life ''We Love Life'' is the seventh and final studio album by English rock band Pulp, released on 22 October 2001 by Island Records. It reached number six on the UK Albums Chart, with a total chart stay of only three weeks. Written and recorded aft ...

''. It was released 15 April 2002 as the second

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the album, charting at number 27 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It was the band's last single before their eight-year hiatus, which ended in 2011.

CD1 CD1 (cluster of differentiation 1) is a family of glycoproteins expressed on the surface of various human antigen-presenting cells. They are related to the class I MHC molecules, and are involved in the presentation of lipid antigens to T ...

's B-sides appear as bonus tracks on the US release of ''

''. The B-sides to CD2 are cover versions of Pulp songs performed by other artists.

Background

"Bad Cover Version" began as an instrumental written by Pulp keyboardist

Candida Doyle Candida Mary Doyle (born 25 August 1963) is an English musician who is keyboard player and occasional backing vocalist with the band Pulp, which she joined in 1984. She joined her brother, drummer Magnus Doyle in the line-up replacing the prev ...

. Cocker then added lyrics; he recalled, "I wrote the words at night, then went to bed, woke up in the morning and thought 'I bet they're really shit, them words.' But then when I sang them they worked out alright". Cocker later called it "just a pop song" but said that he felt it was "quite emotional." The song's working title was "Candy's Spectre."

Lyrics

The song details the protagonist's belief that his former partner's current relationship is inferior to what she had with him. The latter part of the song is a list of things the narrator likens said relationship to, including

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

since the 1980s, the TV adaptation of ''Planet of the Apes'', and later episodes of ''

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...

'' where Tom and Jerry could talk. Most notable is the reference to "the second side of '' 'Til the Band Comes In''", a 1970 album by Scott Walker who produced "Bad Cover Version", along with the rest of the ''We Love Life'' album. '' 'Til the Band Comes In'' contains original songs on side 1, and mostly cover songs on side 2; Cocker explained, "That record's always mystified me... It's like he just kind of gets sick of the whole thing and gives up halfway through the record." Jarvis Cocker stated that the lyrics were written before he knew that Walker would be involved. He recalled,

Release

According to

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

' Nigel Coxon, there was "big debate" over whether to release another single from ''

'', given the relative under-performance of previous single " Sunrise"/" The Trees". He explained, " he record companywants new stuff, to be fed new hits, all the time. It's just this overriding idea that Pulp are an old has-been". Pulp did convince Island to release one more single, but the dispute resulted in a late release of April 2002. In addition to non-album tracks "Yesterday" and "Forever in My Dreams", the single release featured on its B-side two covers of Pulp songs:

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...

's version of " Disco 2000" and

Róisín Murphy Róisín Marie Murphy ( , ; born 5 July 1973) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and record producer. She first became known in the 1990s as one half of the pop duo Moloko alongside English musician Mark Brydon. After the breakup of Moloko, she em ...

's version of " Sorted for E's & Wizz". The single reached number 27 in the UK. The cover for the single is similar to the cover of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's famous album '' The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars''. The child on the cover is Pulp's guitarist Mark Webber.

Video

The song's video features many

celebrity lookalike A look-alike, double, or doppelgänger is a person who bears a strong physical resemblance to another person, excluding cases like twins and other instances of family resemblance. Some look-alikes have been notable individuals in their own right, ...

s who gather in a West London studio to perform a "tribute" to Pulp, in a similar style to the video for Band Aid's "

Do They Know It's Christmas? "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of pop ...

". All the lookalikes appear to perform their own lines in the style of the artists they are impersonating, with the exception of the Jarvis Cocker lookalike, who is miming to Cocker's vocal. Cocker himself appears in the video dressed as Brian May, playing the guitar note that ends the song.

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...

, who died in 1994, is the only impersonated artist who was not alive at the time of the song's release. ;The list of impersonated artists: Singers: *

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

* Liam Gallagher *

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

* Craig David *

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

Sophie Ellis-Bextor Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor (born 10 April 1979) is an English singer and songwriter. She first came to prominence in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the indie rock band Theaudience. After the group disbanded Ellis-Bextor went solo and ach ...

* Tom Jones *

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

* Jay Kay *

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known as Missy Elliott or Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She embarked on her music career with R&B girl group Sista in the earl ...

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Rock music in Ireland, Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved ...

Guitarists: * Noel Gallagher *

* Keith Richards * Brian May Percussionists: *

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

Producer: *

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock music, rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, h ...

Track listings

Personnel

- lead vocals, electric guitars * Mark Webber - acoustic guitar, backing vocals *

- keyboards, backing vocals * Steve Mackey - bass, backing vocals * Nick Banks - drums, bells, backing vocals * Scott Walker - backing vocals

References

External links

Bad Cover Version on PulpWiki
{{authority control Pulp (band) songs 2002 singles Song recordings produced by Chris Thomas (record producer) Songs written by Jarvis Cocker Songs written by Candida Doyle Songs written by Nick Banks Songs written by Steve Mackey Songs written by Mark Webber (guitarist) 2002 songs Island Records singles