The two golden rules with a cover version are that it must either bring an obscure song to people’s attention so that it gets the respect it deserved first time around, or it must do something completely different with it. With the Beatles, no one has the luxury of achieving the first objective, so the aim of the game is to smash the song apart, re-arrange the building blocks and fashion something unusual. In short, the songs must be subverted, converted, or perverted.

Do: Take the best element, chuck everything else out.

Chemical Brothers featuring Noel Gallagher- Setting Sun

Not a cover version in the truest sense, but this takes the rhythm of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” fattens it up, and adds wailing sirens and new lyrics to create a Frankenstein’s monster of a tune. It’s sufficiently different for the Chemicals not to have to share royalties, but similar enough that it had a working title of “Tomorrow Never Noels” and it’s is certainly one of the noisiest UK number ones of the last decade.

Do: Inject oestrogen into proceedings

The Breeders- Happiness is a Warm Gun

Where to start? This track is the highlight on an album (1990’s Pod) that was the equal of anything the Pixies produced. Just listen to Kim Deal’s voice, where every syllable is lovingly pronounced, or Tanya Donnelly’s softly sung chorus. It also boasts typical Steve Albini production—wherein each instrument sounds like it was recorded in a different country. The reason it makes this list, though, is the streak of pure femininity that goes through it—not simply that there’s a female vocal, but the way it rocks out in such an unobvious, un…male way. There’s an understated power that men with instruments just aren’t capable of going on here.

Don’t: Listen to this song

Wet Wet Wet- With a Little Help from My Friends

This was released as a charity record for Childline—a telephone number that children could call if they were being abused. But it still doesn’t excuse it. Impressively, Marti Pellow manages to sound worse than Ringo Starr. I think it’s the ooh’s that prefix every line of the chorus that really do it for me. Those ooh’s also represent the band injecting their own style—a terrifying thing. In fact the only thing more terrifying is their version of The Troggs’ “Love Is All Around.”

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