And I have a thing for alter-ego songs. You know, when songs get reinterpreted or covered by other musicians and sound so different from their original forms that they seem to have split personalities. I like the surprise when I start listening to what I think is a new song and realise that hey, I know this! An alter-ego song has a cheeky sense of humour... it tries to masquerade as a stranger and the challenge is to see how long it can fool us. Electronica covered as death metal, pop covered as big band... the variations are endless.

My favourite instance of an alter-ego song occurred when I was clubbing sometime last year. The DJ started spinning funky breakbeats which everyone whooped up and danced to, when I wrinkled my nose and thought... Hmm, why does this sound so familiar? Then I realised it's a distortion of Barry Manilow's Copacabana, an oldie which probably none of the young kids dancing round had heard of, and which they wouldn't be caught dead dancing to if they had. And I looked at them dancing so obliviously to the tune and couldn't help bursting into laughter. :)