What Are Your Favorite Covers?
I chanced upon a fun article by The Torontoist yesterday, via Digg. It ‘covers’ (haha… shut up.) an odd and wide array of cover songs, both old and new, way cool and way cheesy (and some that qualify as both). It’s sectioned out into categories like ‘Better Than the Original’, ‘Bizarre and Way Out’ and ‘Updating the 80’s’, each of which has a Top 5 plus a few bonus picks.
Each song also comes with a corresponding mp3 clip or Youtube video. Worth checking out if you enjoy wierd covers. I know I do! There weren’t many on their list I particularly ‘liked’, but the few I did made it worthwhile, and many others were at least ‘interesting.’ Here are the highlights, according to me:
Who knew the White Stripes’ “Jolene” was a Dolly Parton cover?
[audio:cover-clips-jolene.mp3]
Creepy… Tori Amos covering “‘97 Bonnie and Clyde” (by Eminem)
[audio:cover-clips-bonnie-and-clyde.mp3]
Funny… Max Raabe covering “Oops…I Did It Again” (by Britney Spears)
[audio:cover-clips-oops-i-did-it-again.mp3]
Strange… Scala covering “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (by Nirvana)
[audio:cover-clips-smells-like-teen-spirit.mp3]
Awwww yeeahh… Nina Gordon covering “Straight Outta Compton” (by NWA)
[audio:cover-clips-straight-outta-compton.mp3]
Pretty… Iron and Wine covering “Such Great Heights” (by the Postal Service)
[audio:cover-clips-such-great-heights.mp3]
An obligatory Richard Cheese song can be found on there as well. What I can’t believe is that not a single Cat Power song made the list. She has an entire record consisting exclusively of covers! Her covers are quite often “way out” and/or “better than the originals.” Tisk tisk. A few other good covers that pop immediately to mind:
Psychic TV’s “Good Vibrations” (by the Beach Boys)
[audio:Psychic-TV-Good-Vibrations-Beach-Boys-Cover.mp3]
Elliot Smith’s live rendition of “Jealous Guy” (by the Beatles John Lennon)
[audio:Elliott-Smith-Jealous-Guy-Beatles-Cover-Live.mp3]
Lou Barlow’s not at all tongue-in-cheek cover of “Run To You” (by Bryan Adams)
[audio:Lou-Barlow-Run-To-You-Cover.mp3]
Sonic Youth’s “Superstar” (by the Carpenters)
[audio:Sonic-Youth-Superstar-Carpenters-Cover.mp3]
Malcolm McLaren’s “About Her” (reinterpretation of “She’s Not There” by the Zombies)
[audio:Malcolm-Mclaren-About-Her-Zombies-Cover-Kill-Bill-Soundtrack.mp3]
I could keep going, but enough about my faves. Tell me yours.
The Frogs Get It
Here’s a little synchronicity story for you. I have these fairly often but this one keeps returning to mind, perhaps because it’s neurologically attached to a particular song, and that particular song is currently playing.
It was probably a couple months ago this happened. My husband had just told me of his encounter with an adorable frog outside our apartment building (we have a pond nearby), and I was envious of his good luck. I’d never seen one, except at an aquarium once (I’ll save the aquarium frog orgy story for another day). So I determined that I must keep an eye out for froggies on my walk later that night! Then I forgot.
Fastforward to my walk. I’m barely on my way, rocking out to a little song called ‘Instinct Blues’ by a little band called The White Stripes. It gets to the line, “the frogs get it” and at that very moment I detect a dark spot on the sidewalk. I move closer, and you’ll never guess what it was! Actually, you’d have to be rather dense not to guess what it was… but — a frog! Hells yeah.
I found it particularly cool because, not only did my intention come about much more swiftly than expected (not too surprising, being a small, simple intention with no conflicting emotions attached. Just 100% me wanting to see a froggie!), but the universe did me one better with the synchronicity — literally — synchronizing the event with a matching song lyric.
Just a coincidence? You decide. Meanwhile I’ll be over here working magic and what not. May you dream of dancing frogs, and may they not be giant poisonous frogs dancing creepily towards you with murderous intent. If they are, fear not. Let your instincts guide you and all will be well. Night night.
[audio:White-Stripes-Instinct-Blues.mp3]
Cute Old Song About Politicians and Martians
It makes you giggle. The artist, Mollie Thompson. The album, From Worlds Afar. The backstory, according to this dude (I think?) is as follows.
“From Worlds Afar is a lovely album of simple country-folky tunes by a woman from Stockport in the UK, just her on acoustic guitar and the occasional tambourine, singing about UFOs and aliens. But they aren’t mean abducting, anal-probing or cattle-mutilating aliens, they are benevolent wise beautiful aliens in one-piece silver suits, offering us a chance of a better future if we only stop fighting wars etc. The music is gentle and optimistic, and funny … it’s a private pressing (essentially a DIY project) from some time in the 1960s.”
[audio:Mollie-Thompson-Cockeyed-Ballad.mp3]
The rest of the story, backsleeve notes and the entire album (mp3s) can be found, same place I found them, at WFMU: Mollie Thompson - Heralding the Dawn (full album mp3)
Show Her You Love Her This Christmas, With a Nebula
Here’s my, only slightly altered, version of this photograph from NASA.
How To Play ‘Between The Bars’ by Elliott Smith
[audio:Elliott-Smith-Between-The-Bars.mp3]
LYRICS * TAB * MP3 * Album: Either/Or
(Chords: Am7 F C Em7 + Am7 F C E F + F G Am C Fm G Am C + F Fm)
GUITAR DEMO ON YOUTUBE (By Jeffrey Kim)
