Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

The song is older than you might suppose, originally released in October 1985, the lead single for the Waterboys’ third album This Is the Sea, Oddly it didn’t even perform that well, first time around, with an Australian #12 the height of initial success. However, boosted by a belated Ivor Novello award, for best song musically and lyrically, in 1991, it was re-released. This time it cracked the UK top echelon, if at #3.

Intriguingly, it did not trouble the US charts on either occasion, it arguably taking Fiona Apple to break the song in America, singing it on the soundtrack of TV series The Affair towards the end of 2019. Here are some lesser-known versions: Continue reading »