Yes, it was a cover.

Do you know where they got the name “Mony Mony” from?

I’ll tell you my love, because I want you to be a better person. You’ll be a fruitbowl of knowledge by the time I’m finished with you!

Enjoy this from a site I’ve just launched called Wikipedia:

“Mony Mony” was a 1968 single released by Tommy James & The Shondells that again became a huge hit for Billy Idol in 1987.

The song appeared on Tommy James & The Shondells similarly-titled album Mony Mony.

“Mony Mony” was credited to Tommy James, Bo Gentry, Richie Cordell, and Bobby Bloom, who had a top ten record of his own with “Montego Bay”.

The hook in the song is said to have been inspired by James’ view of a MONY sign atop the Mutual of New York Building in New York City skyline from his Manhattan apartment. As Tommy James says in a 1995 interview in Hitch magazine:

 

The Mutual of New York building

 

True story: I had the track done before I had a title. I wanted something catchy like “Sloopy” or “Bony Maroney,” but everything sounded so stupid. So Ritchie Cordell and I were writing it in New York City, and we were about to throw in the towel when I went out onto the terrace, looked up and saw the Mutual of New York building (which has its initials illuminated in red at its top). I said, “That’s gotta be it! Ritchie, come here, you’ve gotta see this!” It’s almost as if God Himself had said, “Here’s the title.” I’ve always thought that if I had looked the other way, it might have been called “Hotel Taft.”

[more here]

THAT is a cool story.

Now let’s hear Billy Idol rocking someMony Mony..

Ooh, I love you Mony Mon Mon Mon, yes I do….