...a musician.

Because, you see, if I got famous, I'd have people stealing my songs to post them on their blogs.  Or, if I was really good, I'd get covered, and the covers would be good enough to post on blogs.  This time the covers are not necessarily in a different genre, but they are simply covers I love.  And if you like the music you hear here, and it's available for sale somewhere (I'll try to provide you links, if possible), go out and buy it. :)


Anyway, per the usual, thoughts (and links) after the playlist (and the break).

1. Come On Eileen by Save Ferris - The original by Dexy's Midnight Runners is an excellent song, and I'm pretty sure I like this version better.  Part of that might be because the original sounds like it was recorded on shoddy equipment, but I also happen to love Monique Powell's voice.  Buy from Amazon

2. Lovers in a Dangerous Time by Barenaked Ladies - One of the few covers that I'll recommend even though I'm not familiar with the original.  I'm sure I've heard it, and the song sounds vaguely familiar, but I have no desire to find the Bruce Cockburn (I feel really bad for him having that name) original or the Dan Fogelburg cover.  It just doesn't feel like it would sound right with voices other than BNL.  Maybe I'm missing out, but I don't care.  Buy from Amazon

3. Hallelujah by Rufus Wainwright - Of course this is on my list.  The Leonard Cohen original is weird and I don't care for it.  There are hundreds and hundreds of covers of this song, almost all in the approximate style of the most well known Jeff Buckley cover.  This particular version makes my top five songs of all time, and is the one I keep coming back to over and over.  Buy from Amazon

4. Desperado by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - MFatGGs create entire albums of ska/punk covers of popular non ska/punk songs, and they make a good living doing it.  While I've not heard one from them that I didn't really like, this is one of my favorites. Buy from Amazon

5. Bette Davis Eyes by Gwyneth Paltrow - Yep, the actress.  From the movie Duets with Huey Lewis (yeah, it's that awesome), about a pair of karaoke championship participants or something.  It was mildly entertaining, but I was most stricken by how decent a voice this young woman has.  Of course she married that fuck Chris Martin and named her kid Apple, so screw her.  Buy the Duets Soundtrack on Amazon

6. El Tango de Roxanne by José Feliciano feat. Ewan MacGregor - This one's from the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge, an excellent film despite what some have told me.  It's funny, sad, well acted, and incredibly well sung.  I was unaware prior to this film that any of these people could sing like they can, particularly the leads.  This, however, is one of my favorite songs from the film.  It takes the original from the Police and just transforms it into something completely different than it originally was.  Buy the Moulin Rouge Soundtrack from Amazon

7. Head Like a Hole by Devo - When I heard about this I laughed it off as ridiculous.  There's no way those freaks from Whip It can cover a Nine Inch Nails song and make it sound good.  Then I listened.  It's odd, that's a given (it's Devo), but it's also pretty catchy.  Sorry, no link to buy this one.  It was on the soundtrack to Supercop with Jackie Chan, it seems, but the manufacturer no longer presses that particular CD (SHOCKER!).

8. The Man Who Sold the World by Nirvana - This song is one of those that ends up belonging to the cover artist more so than the original.  David Bowie does a great job with the song, and if it weren't for him it never would have happened, but I'm willing to be more people have heard the Nirvana cover.  And according to Wikipedia, Bowie has been quoted saying that kids would come up after his shows and tell him how awesome he was for playing a Nirvana cover.  Doesn't seem like it made him to happy.  Buy from Amazon
Or, if you're feeling generous, toss Mr. Bowie some love.  God knows he needs more guy-liner and hair product.

9. Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon by Urge Overkill - The original is by Neil Diamond, who is awesome.  This one, however, is from the soundtrack to Pulp Fiction, which makes it awesome-r.  And I really like the country kind of twang to it.  Buy from Amazon

10. Love Song by Death Cab for Cutie - I love Deathcab.  Or, at least, I love old Deathcab.  New Deathcab just makes crappy songs for the soundtracks to sparkle-vampire movies.  Old Deathcab made awesome songs like I Will Follow You Into the Dark and this cover of The Cure.  311 covered this song a few years back, too, and in my mind, this version edges out the 311 one by a hair.  It's close, but I think Ben Gibbard's voice fits the lyrics better.  Sadly, Amazon doesn't have this one either.

11. Folsom Prison Blues by Everlast - OK. This is gonna cause some...opinions, probably.  The first time I heard this cover of the Man in Black, I was almost offended.  Then, for some reason, I put it on again, and I started to get pulled in.  It's actually not that bad, I thought to myself.  Now I've heard it so many times I actually like it.  It's weird.  Anyway, buy it from Amazon.

12. Crazy Train by Bullet for my Valentine - Good job of yelling in all the right places and playing the guitar really loud and fast by BfmV on this cover of Ozzy.  That's really all I have to say about this one.  If you like the original you'll probably like this one, if you don't, skip to the next track.  No dice on Amazon for this one, either.  I could link you to the Pat Boone cover, but then I'd hate myself.

13. Earth Angel by Death Cab for Cutie - Yeah, I know, second song by Death Cab.  Well, guess what.  The next one is by Rufus Wainwright.  Take that.  This particular song is a cover of The Penguins, and comes off the soundtrack to the Xbox game Stubbs the Zombie.  You controlled a zombie in the fifties and needed brains.  The soundtrack was made entirely of current artists covering fifties artists.  I heard the game was pretty bad, but the soundtrack was full of awesome.  Buy from Amazon.

14. Across the Universe by Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Wainwright's voice is just perfectly suited for certain songs, and others I would never want to hear from him.  For instance, swap him and Death Cab on this track and the last one.  This song would still be pretty good, but Earth Angel would sound retarded.  Anyway, the songs for which his voice is suited should be sung by him and only him.  Buy from Amazon.

15. Careless Whisper by Seether - I'm a big Seether fan, in theory.  I like every single song I hear by them, but I've never listened to an entire album, purchased anything by them, or seen them live.  This cover was supposedly done as kind of a joke when their label asked them to cover a love song for their new album.  Whether or not it was meant as a joke, it ended up kicking an awful lot of ass.  Buy from Amazon.