They've got it covered

We've all been there. The "band" weddings, with an inebriated Mick Jagger wannabe swaying back and forth to the mangled chords of an 80s pop song that should have died with the Kansas City Royals' postseason appearances.

The cover song has a long and bumpy history in popular music. In the early 20th Century, swing bands, jazz artists and bluegrass outfits from rival publishing houses would cover the hits of their competitors' stable of artists, leading to about 57 versions of "Mack the Knife" (Bertoldt Brecht wrote this???).

Since that time, every single garage band has tried to make it big with their own interpretations of the Beatles, Guns and Roses and The Pretenders.

Many of these songs are merely meant to be ironic attempts to pad an original album -- or, in the case of Less than Jake, fill an entire album. But it is the mark of a truly great artist/group who can take the work of a previous musician and turn it into something else and imbue it with a transcendent meaning, in the same way a great movie remake should do.

With that in mind, here are some of my favorite cover songs that take the source material and inch it forward to make something new and uniquely powerful. Or, simply, to take a terrible song and make it listen-able. Both accomplishments are equally impressive.

Santana "Black Magic Woman" 1970 (originally by Fleetwood Mac)

That first guitar riff is simply legendary. Can anyone remember any portion of the original Fleetwood Mac version as much as those first few notes? Santana takes another of Fleetwood's contrived tunes (sorry, I simply can't stand that band) and turns it into something soulful, earthy and -- gulp! -- magical.

Joe Cocker "With a Little Help from my Friends" 1968 (originally by The Beatles)

Yes, it was the theme song to "The Wonder Years." But it was also a re-imagining of what was already a sentimental song about needing the aid of those around you into an even more mournful, heartfelt tribute to the necessity of friendship. And the Woodstock performance just puts it over the top.

Jimi Hendrix "All Along the Watchtower" 1968 (originally by Bob Dylan)

Anyone who is unfortunate enough to have a couple of beers with me when this song comes on the jukebox will have to endure my endless ramblings of why Dylan's version is superior: it's haunting, bare-bones sound with Dylan's trademark scratchy vocals more closely embody the narrative of the tune. But can you really deny that Hendrix's version takes the source material and turns it into an electric rock masterpiece?

Cream "Crossroads" 1969 (originally by Robert Johnson)

This 1936 tune, originally titled "Cross Road Blues," has been covered by a ton of recognizable artists: The Doors, Bob Dylan, The Steve Miller Band, Phish and even John Mayer. But it is the Cream version, with the young Eric Clapton providing the unforgettable blues riff, that elevates this timeless classic to a new level.

The Clash "I Fought the Law" 1979 (originally written by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets)

It may not have started the punk/alternative trend of covers in faster time with edgier riffs, but "I Fought the Law" is perhaps the most famous. Its themes gel so nicely with the rallying cry of the counterculture that it's difficult to believe Joe Strummer and Mick Jones didn't pen the track themselves.

Soft Cell "Tainted Love" 1981 (originally by Gloria Jones)

Let's forget that awful Marilyn Manson cover from ten years ago, shall we? This song gets double duty, because the 1980s rockers also incorporated The Supremes' "Where Did our Love Go?" at the end of the track, tying together two thematically related hits from the soul era into the synth era of the 1980s.

Jeff Buckley "Hallelujah" 1994 (originally by Leonard Cohen)

You may remember this song from Shrek. If so, punch yourself. The above live version of this song takes a forgettable crooning mess from the 1980s and turns it into something incredibly powerful. All gospel songs should be redone like this.

Cake "I Will Survive" 1996 (originally by Gloria Gaynor)

Some may take Cake's version of Gloria Gaynor's anthem of femininity as a kind of farcical parody. Nothing could be further from the truth. They syncopated delivery of John McCrea and mournful horns on this track jive nicely with Cake's other tunes about unrequited love and heartbreak, notably "She'll Come Back to Me."

Johnny Cash "Hurt" 2003 (originally by Nine Inch Nails)

Cash also covered Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" to great effect, but it is this version of Trent Reznor's "Hurt" and the slight alteration of lyrics to reflect Cash's faith that take a great song about self-defeat and turn it into a tribute to one of the most self-destructive icons of a past era. The music video is immensely powerful, as well, retreading images of Cash's life and career over lyrics that just as easily could have been written by the man who penned classics like "Folsom Prison" and "Cocaine Blues."

Citizen Cope "Karma Police" 2006 (originally by Radiohead)

The original song can be interpreted as an Orwellian nightmare or an ode to the all-encompassing justice of the universe. Either way you take it, this dub version of the tune makes it funky and danceable, brightening the subject matter up a bit while at the same time merging the cold English moors with the sands of Jamaica.

Are there any others I've missed? Let me know below!