Hall of Fame:

Aretha Franklin, Respect

José Gonzalez, Heartbeats (The Knife Cover)

Jeff Buckley, Hallelujah

Aretha Franklin took Otis Redding’s not-entirely-serious plea for spousal appreciation, and turned it into a clarion call for women sick of being disrespected by men. From the sass of the horns intro and the roar in her opening words, “What you want…”, Franklin unleashed an even more visceral power locked inside the song.

José Gonzalez took the icy electropop feel of The Knives song, slowed it down and made it acoustic, all of which accentuated the haunting lyrics. His version quickly became the go-to song for any soundtrack creator needing to enhance moments of contemplation or melancholy; and the soundtrack to a groundbreaking advert.

Hallelujah has become one of the most covered songs this century, but it took a while for people to recognise the genius behind Leonard Cohen’s song from 1984. The Velvet Underground’s John Cale stripped back the song’s 15 verses and arrangement in 1991, but it was Jeff Buckley’s emotionally powerful version of Cale’s arrangement that really cemented the song’s status as a modern hit. Since then, all manner of artists have tried the song – some rather more successfully than others.

Take the melody to another dimension