Great cover songs

Surpass the originals.

John Cale - Hallelujah [Buy Album] Leonard Cohen's original sounds overwrought. This cover does not. I can't pinpoint the difference.

Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane [Live][Buy Album] While there are some Velvet Underground songs I love as they are, a couple songs are meh until people who value tuneful singing make them amazing.

Cat Power - I Found A Reason [Buy mp3!!!] I put this on the jukebox in a trendy bar downtown on a date several years ago. A, mmm, socially-unrestricted homeless guy had wandered into the bar, and Cat Power's mellow style made him wander from table to table, ranting insistently that the music be changed.

My party-all-the-time skateboarder date tended to agree with the, mmm, less-than-socially-graceful homeless man, I think. Ahh well.

Jose Gonzales - Heartbeats [Buy Album] Sorry no accents on the name. Since I've started blogging about music, bands with weird accents and punctuation marks are a bete noir (sic(k)). I have no idea how to spell -- let alone type -- oomlaut. If you insist on having one in your band name, I can't find you.

Death Cab For Cutie - All Is Full Of Love This is blasphemy, but I'm only mildly pleased by Bjork (and again with the oomlauts!), so when I heard her sing "All is Full of Love" at Sasquatch, I thought she was covering Death Cab. Not vice versa.

Bjork's performance was still strong, of course. "Strong," like "talented", being compliments I pay when I know intellectually there's merit, but I'm still not very excited about it.

Fountains of Wayne - ...Baby One More Time [Buy mp3!!!] I've been spending time in the part of the country where we're all really supposed to care a lot about who has custody of what celebrity's kids, and I'm genuinely a little physically sick of it.

So I love hearing this song's very low-key, take-it-or-leave-it mockery of a gal who ruled the fashion and music industries with a trashy, corporate fist for a few years of my young adult life that I don't get back.

Nirvana - Plateau [YouTube][Buy mp3!!!]

Rosie Thomas - The One I Love If the way Republican politicians love their neighbors, do unto others, and turn the other cheeks has left you with some unfortunate anti-Christian sentiment and you want to hear Sufjan Stevens without that baggage, don't read the text of the Rosie Thomas link.

Rock Plaza Central - Sexyback My feelings on Justin Timberlake aren't that different from my feelings on Britney Spears. I wish they would run away together. Far away.

As awesome as the originals.
Le Tigre - I'm So Excited [Buy mp3!!!]

Nick Cave - Black Betty [Buy mp3!!!]

Mercury Rev - I Only Have Eyes For You

Iron & Wine - Such Great Heights [Buy Album]

Vanessa Paradis - Waiting For The Man

Elliott Smith Jealous Guy
Singing this indicator-of-tumult beautifully is a recipe for a too-early end. Singing too beautifully probably won't ever be a problem for me, but I hope my favorite singers stay far, far away from "Jealous Guy".

Nouvelle Vague - Guns of Brixton

Wendy O. Williams and Lemmy Kilmister - Stand By Your Man

Nirvana - Molly's Lips

Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night [YouTube]

Cake Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

Neko Case - Wayfaring Stranger

Frente - Bizarre Love Triangle [YouTube]

Blitzen Trapper - Crazy On You

The Bees - A Minha Menina

The Bosshoss - Hey Ya

Viva Voce - Eye In The Sky

Albert Kuvezin & Yat-Kha - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Dr. Dog - Heart It Races

Joan Jett - Let's Do It

Not quite as good as the amazing originals, but still five stars out of five.
Britt Daniel - Bring It On Home To Me

Last Town Chorus - Modern Love

Cake - I Will Survive

Jonathan Coulton - Baby Got Back [YouTube]

Greg Laswell - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Nada Surf - Where Is My Mind

Death Cab For Cutie - Little Boxes