"Bad Cover Version" | ||||
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Single by Pulp | ||||
from the album We Love Life | ||||
Released | 15 April 2002 | |||
Format | 2 CDs and DVD | |||
Recorded | 2000–01 | |||
Genre | Britpop | |||
Length | 4:10 / 3:58 | |||
Label | Island | |||
Writer(s) | Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey and Mark Webber | |||
Producer(s) | Scott Walker, Chris Thomas | |||
Pulp singles chronology | ||||
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"Bad Cover Version" is a song by British rock band Pulp, from their 2001 album We Love Life. It was released 15 April 2002 as the second single from the album, charting at number 27 in the UK Singles Chart (see 2002 in British music). It was the band's last single before their eight-year hiatus, which ended in 2011. CD1's B-sides appear as bonus tracks on the US release of We Love Life. The B-sides to CD2 are cover versions of Pulp songs performed by other artists.
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 since the 1980s, the TV adaptation of Planet of the Apes, and later episodes of Tom and Jerry where Tom and Jerry could talk.
Most notable is the reference to and "The second side of 'Til The Band Comes In", a 1970 album by Scott Walker. Walker was the producer of 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 cover songs on side 2. Critical reaction was that the covers let the album down, an opinion which Walker himself has now admitted he shares, stating that the inclusion of covers was a compromise with the record company. Pulp singer and lyricist Jarvis Cocker has stated that the lyrics were written and finalised before he knew that Walker would be involved.
The cover for the single is similar to the cover of David Bowie's famous album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The child on the cover is in fact Pulp's guitarist Mark Webber.