This weekend, St. Vincent’s Annie Clark tweeted her cover of the classic “Golden Girls” theme song, “Thank You For Being a Friend.” To call it a cover is unfair and also maybe too generous, as the two-minute clip is, in Clark’s words, a “dirge.” So, let’s call it a reinterpretation. To describe it more plainly: It’s not much of anything other than a nice, soothing bit of static noise that might pair well with a slice of cheesecake, some creamy coffee, and a relaxing tab of retirement LSD.
That Clark was inspired by Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia isn’t all that surprising. Television theme songs have been ripe for riffing since way before they were easy fodder for retweets or YouTube views. On their so-weird-it-can’t-be-real 1966 album Jan & Dean Meet Batman, the “Surf City” duo covered the “Batman” theme, and back in ‘96 the Ramones famously covered the “Spider-Man” theme song. But Clark’s take on “Thank You For Being a Friend” is different: It’s representative of a type of TV theme cover that indulges in weirdness and divorces itself almost entirely from the original.
I remade the "Golden Girls" theme song into a dirge. #thankyouforbeingafriendpic.twitter.com/1UaKx6oGgk
— St. Vincent (@st_vincent) July 11, 2016
There aren’t many covers of this sort that compare to the minimalism of St. Vincent’s, but there are a handful that elevate the TV theme cover to some kind of high art. Or, you know, manage to be just absurd enough for a laugh.
Chance the Rapper & The Social Experiment — “Wonderful Everyday: Arthur”
By 2014, Chance the Rapper had done little more than, oh you know, secure his spot as the future of rap. And then he dropped “Wonderful Everyday: Arthur” and became known as the biggest Arthur Read stan of all time. This three-minute take on the Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers original (written by Judy Henderson and Jerry De Villiers Jr.) begins as a beautifully layered chant that erupts in some horns to become sick as hell, the perfect inspiration one needs to head down the block and chill with an asthmatic bunny.
Chance and his buddies in the Social Experiment brought in vocals from Wyclef Jean, Jessie Ware, Elle Varner, Francis and the Lights, Eryn Allen Kane, and more, so even if this isn’t the weirdest cover on this list—and it’s pretty weird—it’s certainly got the most pedigree. It’s also the only one that managed to chart.
Sonic Youth — “Simpsons Closing Theme”
The penultimate episode of “The Simpsons’” seventh season, titled “Homerpalooza,” predicted the music festival fervor that has swept the globe in the past decade. Aired in 1996, the episode sees Homer at a fest called Hullabalooza, where he enlists himself as a sideshow attraction whose talent is getting hit in the stomach with cannonballs. He does this as a way to impress Bart and Lisa, who have been dogging him for his dad-rock obsessions. The episode featured guest spots from the Smashing Pumpkins, Cypress Hill, and Peter Frampton, but it also included Sonic Youth, who had the pleasure of covering the show’s iconic closing theme. Unsurprisingly, listening to their version is akin to taking a cannonball to the head. It traffics in vibes exactly opposite to those created by St. Vincent, but still manages to spiritually jibe with her anarchic take on “Thank You For Being a Friend.”
The Flaming Lips — “Batman Theme”
It’s tough to remember that Wayne Coyne and his Flaming Lips weren’t always caked in glitter and backing Miley, but thankfully the internet is here to remind us that things such as 2002’s Finally, The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid exist. This sprawling box-set captured the raw sound of the Lips from ’83-’88, and somewhere in those years the then-punk rockers decided to rain their power chords all over Adam West and the classic “Batman” theme song. Their take, like all legit punx classics, clocks in at just under two minutes—and yet, in that time the group transcends the euphoric highs of “She Don’t Use Jelly” and plumbs depths darker than “Do You Realize??”
Marilyn Manson — “Suicide Is Painless”
Originally written by Johnny Mandel and Mike Altman, “Suicide Is Painless” is the theme from “M*A*S*H,” and was intended to be, as Altman said, “the stupidest song ever written.” No surprise then that when Marilyn Manson was tasked with covering the song for the 2000 soundtrack of Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, he managed to create a languid slog that’s void of self-awareness and caked with so much melodrama you’d think he had mistaken the stuff for corpse paint. Next up: Manson’s take on the “Wonder Years” theme (Joe Cocker’s version of “A Little Help From My Friends”), in which he really does sing out of tune—and key.
John Legend — “Raise Your Glass”
John Legend and his wife Chrissy Teigen are in, like, so much love. But John Legend does not only love Chrissy Teigen; he also must love “Vanderpump Rules,” which is why he decided to sing a classic John Legend ballad version of the Bravo reality show’s original theme song (titled “Raise Your Glass,” of course) to an unknown woman named Vanessa, who in this video is lucky enough to be standing at the edge of John Legend’s piano, wearing a robe and giggling as she’s overcome by a voice so smooth it should be a mixer in Sur’s newest signature drink, the Legendary Mudslide. That Chrissy Teigen is secure enough in her marriage to share a video of her husband serenading another woman is just further proof that love is real, because it’s 2016 and that is how these things are measured.