Despite it being obvious from a distance that it is a blatantly transparent attempt to generate arguments in order to drive up circulation, I still can't resist getting drawn into the Observer's so-called 50 greatest cover versions ever.

Actually, its not that bad a list. At least it does not make the fatal error of including Annie Lennox's murdering of A Whiter Shade of Pale.  There are a few (somewhere between 15 and 20) that I have not heard or can't remember so I don't know if they are great or not.

Maybe it would be more interesting if covers which are so good that many people don't even know they are covers were excluded.  But then again, thats what makes some of them great – in the sense that an artist has picked up someone else's song and totally made it their own. Songs in that category would be Tainted Love, Step On or I Will Always Love You.  You don't have to like Whitney Houston's melodramatic caterwauling to recognise she really made that song their own.

Nice to see Youssou N'Dour's Chimes of Freedom, The Scissor Sisters' Comfortably Numb, The Slits' Heard It Through The Grapevine and Rachid Taha's Rock El Casbah on the list – all songs which would be on my own list of favourite cover versions.  Of course I recognise that my favourites might not necessarily be the greatest covers: just the ones I happen to like for one reason or another.

For what its worth, my favourite covers would also include:

• Pretty Vacant (Les Negresses Verte from their live album)
• Enter Sandman (Apocalyptica – Metallica on 4 cellos!)
• Take A Chance On Me (Erasure – campest cover evah!)
• Solitaire (The Lurkers re-inventing Andy Williams)
• King Kong Five (by the fortunately-named Freedom For King Kong)
• Adouma (by Santana. Not as good as the original, but every time I hear it I think of how Angelique Kidjo must be getting some well-deserved royalties from it.)
• Robots (The Balanescu Quartet do Kraftwerk on strings)
• The Model (Spizzenergi do Kraftwerk punk-style)
• Showroom Dummies (Senor Coconut and his Orchestra do Kraftwerk samba-style)
• Je T'aime… Moi Non Plus (The Pet Shop Boys on a B-side)
• This Means War (Busta Rhymes' version of Black Sabbath's Iron Man)
• Biko (Manu Dibango version which also features Peter Gabriel)
• Cecilia (Suggs)
• One / Take 5 (Rodrigo y Gabriela segue Metallica into Dave Brubeck on their live album)
• Making Plans For Nigel (Nouvelle Vague)
• Wild Side of Life (Status Quo)
• She's Not There (Santana)
• Antmusic (Robbie Williams from the Antz soundtrack)
• I Like It (The Rezillos do Gerry & the Pacemakers)
• Money (Easy Star All-Stars doing Pink Floyd in a dub style)
• Hounds of Love (The Futureheads)
• I Fought the Law (Mano Negra)
• Working In A Coalmine (Devo)
• Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Marilyn Manson)
• Der Weg In Die Ferne (Joachim Witt translates the Talking Heads' Heaven into German)
• Higher Ground (Red Hot Chili Peppers do Stevie Wonder)
• The Man Who Sold The World (Nirvana)
• Stuck in the Metal (Eagles of Death Metal do Gerry Rafferty)
• Wild Thing (The Creatures)
• I Want Candy (Bow Wow Wow. Not the Mel C version)
• I Think We're Alone Now (The Rubinoos)
• Enter Sandman (Die Krupps's techno-industrial version)
• I'm Easy (Faith No More's pointlessly accurate version of the Commodores)
• Heartbreaker (Dread Zeppelin. Led Zep reggae style with Elvis impersonator vocals. What's not to like?)
• Centrefold (Hayseed Dixie)
• Sheep (Les Claypool, from the album where he plays the whole of Pink Floyd's Animals in concert)
• Bongo Bong (Robbie Williams and Lily Allen doing the old Mano Negra/Manu Chao song)

More than a few of them would be considered novelty records (especially Dread Zep, Senor Coconut and Hayseed Dixie) but I like them, and its all harmless fun.