The song was released twice as a single and was successful the second time, becoming a top-10 hit in Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

She went on: "It's heartening to see someone who a) isn't particularly handsome, b) has a spook-name (i.e. Colin Vearncombe), c) has no discernible 'image' and d) writes slightly odd lyrics, get into the charts purely on the strength of their music, which in this case is very strong indeed.

[7] The Daily Telegraph said: "Its oddly uplifting lyrics... combined with Black's melancholy croon created, as one critic observed, 'luxuriantly melodic pop that sounds something like a male version of Sade'.

"[8] Lesley O'Toole of Record Mirror praised the song, describing it "a beeeautiful [sic] balmy antidote to today's 99 per cent inconsequential output.

This version, produced by Louie Nicastro and Tom Maddicott, was released in Australia on 30 May 2005 and reached number 17 on the country's ARIA Singles Chart the following month.

In the United Kingdom, following a digital release in late November 2005, the cover debuted and peaked at number 58 on the UK Singles Chart on 4 December 2005.

In 2007, italian musician Zuccero released EP "Wonderful life" which includes his cover version of the song.