The Scene: It's 2003 and the Recording Industry Association of America (or RIAA) files copyright lawsuits against Internet users for trading songs online, and Apple launches iTunes which becomes a major success selling 10 million songs within 4 months of launch, signaling a huge, monumental change in the way the music industry would function. Michael Jackson is booked on suspicion of multiple counts of child molestation (later acquitted). Rock was going through its Nu-metal death throws.

Outside of music Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected Governor of California, Libya agrees to give Up Chemical Weapons, Saddam Hussein is captured by U.S. forces and concerns continue to grow over possible Asian bird flu outbreak also known as avian influenza.

The version: Placebo's 2003 version is a different beast. Surprisingly from a band, the cover is sparser. This track is obviously darker, but I think a lot of that comes from the empty space that the aforementioned synths are filling in on the original. This empty space around the other instruments makes Brian Moloko's vocals sound, well... lonelier.

The most interesting thing for me, when looking at these two alongside each other, is the change of perspective. In Placebo's performance, the need of the person on the other side is more serious. The deal of swapping places seems to have urgency and perhaps insincerity from the person who is offering the deal.

Q magazine described the Placebo version as "sound[ing] more like a pact with the Devil" than the original "deal with God". I think that's just an example of music journalists being enamored with the old Robert Johnson deal with the devil at the crossroads myth and finding any chance to stick it somewhere. To me, Placebo gives the song a more nihilistic feel. The "tsk tsk" sound on the chorus seems to say a big no from God. The deal from God not being in parenthesis in the title (something Kate Bush had to fight with EMI to keep on the original) appears to support my theory.

Kate Bush's explanation of her lyrics gives another twist to the Placebo version, as in a sense, the male band has "swapped places" giving a masculine point of view to the original. Overall, I think Placebo's interpretation does everything a good version should do. It is faithful to the original whilst leaving the artist's own stamp on it.

Next week, I'll be looking at Eric Clapton's version of J.J. Cale's Cocaine. Please feel free to ask for requests in the comments