Bad Cover Version

"Bad Cover Version" began as an instrumental written by Pulp keyboardist Candida Doyle. 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".[1] 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."

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 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."[1] Jarvis Cocker stated that the lyrics were written before he knew that Walker would be involved. He recalled,

Of course, when we were working with him, this became a problem for me because I felt that I had to mention it to him. ... [I] just kind of blurted it all out. 'Er, Scott, well, I've just got to apologise for something, because, OK, at the end of the song, like I make a reference to 'Til The Band Comes In, right, in a list of crap things' ... and at first he just looked at me in a very mystified way, like, 'What is this nutter ranting on about?' And then it kind of clicked with him what I was on about, and he said, 'Well gee thanks guys, that's the way you repay me!' ... for me, it was embarrassing.[1]

According to Island Records' Nigel Coxon, there was "big debate" over whether to release another single from We Love Life, given the relative under-performance of previous single "Sunrise"/"The Trees". He explained, "[The record company] wants new stuff, to be fed new hits, all the time. It's just this overriding idea that Pulp are an old has-been".[1] 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's version of "Disco 2000" and Róisín Murphy's version of "Sorted for E's & Wizz".[1] The single reached number 27 in the UK.

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 Pulp's guitarist Mark Webber.

The song's video features many celebrity lookalikes 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?".[1] 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.[1] Kurt Cobain, 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

All lyrics are written by Jarvis Cocker; all music is composed by Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey and Mark Webber; except where indicated.

• Jarvis Cocker - lead vocals, electric guitars
• Mark Webber - acoustic guitar, backing vocals
• Candida Doyle - keyboards, backing vocals
• Steve Mackey - bass, backing vocals
• Nick Banks - drums, bells, backing vocals
• Scott Walker - backing vocals

• Bad Cover Version on PulpWiki