1st half-ironic cover? (was sucking in the 70s)

[Ph. Barnard]

Carl starts a thread:
    
>      I also have some thread-sparking questions (what was the first known 
>      instance of the half-ironic cover - is he right in naming the 'Mats's  
>      Kiss cover as Patient Zero - and also how to relate this web of 
>      analysis to the various levels of irony in alt-country covers of both 
>      rock and country so-called cheeze). 

In my mind, it was always the Byrd's version of "The Christian Life." 
I couldn't understand it any other way than as an ironic gesture at 
the time....

--junior