Q: Is The Boys are Back In Town a cover or your own song?
A: Look for Thin Lizzy at your local record store!

There are several schools of thought on how to do a cover properly. Terms like “faithful” and “accurate” characterize one school, the reverent redux: you are merely the performer channeling the greatness of the original artist, and your rendition must add tastefully to the body of work while remaining true to the original intent. I cannot, however, actually think of very many covers that fall into this category intentionally—probably because it’s a boring way to do a cover. If there are covers that do stick closely to the original template, it’s often seen more as a sign of weak thinking or lack of creativity. The outliers—covers that actually pull off the feat of remaining very similar to the original, and yet adding something new—are pleasures in their own right. The Lucksmiths did a cover of the Smiths’ “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” that I think is very faithful, and yet improved through the slight reinterpretation and the addition of a second, female vocalist.

But then there’s the other school of thought that says, screw fidelity and reverence—if I want to make a samba cover of Kraftwerk or an alt-country cover of Snoop Dogg, that’s my damned business. Often these sorts of covers are high in kitsch (Mike Flowers Pops doing Oasis’ “Wonderwall”) or irony (Nina Gordon doing an acoustic Lilith Fair-esque version of “Straight Outta Compton”). The great thing about so many of the covers the Cardigans have done, then, is that while they fall into the latter category when it comes to sound, they are at all times quite serious about their intentions. When they put their great resort lounge version of “Iron Man” on First Band On The Moon, it wasn’t because they thought it’d be funny to take the piss out of Black Sabbath (or at least not entirely); it was also because they genuinely liked Black Sabbath. And so it is with this version of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back In Town.” Removed from the 70s stadium rock context, you get two things from the Cardigans version. One, the Cardigans were great at what they used to do, which was light, airy, lounge pop. They certainly had an ear for the right hook and the right arrangement, and it shows with their Thin Lizzy cover—so well done it may as well be their own song (hence the opening quote).

But the second thing that makes this cover so great is that for all the magic dust the Cardigans have sprinkled on “The Boys Are Back In Town,” it’s still quite obvious once you pay attention that it’s the old Thin Lizzy song underneath. It’s a testament to how strong the underlying song is, that a Swedish pop band can rework the song drastically and still make it work so well. It makes the Cardigans look good, but it also makes Thin Lizzy look good. And that’s the true sign of a band who’s serious about their covers.