MODEST PROPOSALS

STEALTH COVERS
Blender‘s new list starts off with “Jersey Girl,” popularized by Bruce Springsteen, originally performed by Tom Waits, as obvious as it is predictable. The lead track on this list is still “Tainted Love,” which everybody STILL thinks it’s fey 80s Britpop. We learned more from the Brenda Lee entry. But at least this list has some HISTORY going for it.
OBVIOUS OMISSIONS
“I Hear You Knockin’,” Dave Edmunds retools Smiley Lewis
“Maggie Mae,” the Beatles on Let it Be, covering the Vipers
“Harlem Shuffle,” Rolling Stones envying Bob and Earl
“Trapped,” Bruce Springsteen smokes Jimmy Cliff
“Man Who Sold the World,” Kurt Cobain traumatizes David Bowie
KICK IT UP
Covers of covers: The Beatles doing The Isley Brothers doing the Top Notes’s “Twist and Shout,” or Rod Stewart doing the Rolling Stones doing Bobby Womack’s “It’s All Over Now.” Or false covers: Marvin Gaye doing “Grapevine,” unaware that Gladys Knight had already cut the song.
COVERS SURPASSING ORIGINALS
from the Onion’s AV Club, lists:
1. Stevie Wonder, “We Can Work It Out”
2. Bryan Ferry, “It’s My Party”
4. Ike & Tina Turner, “Proud Mary”
5. The Who, “Summertime Blues”
6. Elvis Costello, “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, And Understanding?”
7. The Mountain Goats, “The Sign”
8. Self, “What A Fool Believes”
It took TEN critics to miss Jimi Hendrix doing Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”? Eric Clapton doing Hendrix’s “Little Wing”?

LISTS WE’D PREFER
REMAKES BY ORIGINALS
Joni Mitchell redoes “Big Yellow Taxi” (Friends soundtrack)
Bruce Springsteen reignites “Adam Raised A Cain” acoustic tour 1995
John Lennon relives “Cold Turkey” Live in Toronto 1969
The Beatles genuflect to “One After 909” on Apple rooftop
HAD ENOUGH?
Remember that Pink Floyd soundtrack to WIZARD OF OZ that constituted the ONLY funny thing anybody had ever thought of around DARK SIDE OF THE MOON? Here’s five other films paired with Pink Floyd soundtracks that actually enhance both silent film and rock aesthetics:
1. WISH YOU WERE HERE and GODFATHER PART 2
2. UMMAGUMMA and PULP FICTION
3. ANIMALS and DIVA
4. THE WALL and METROPOLIS
5. MEDDLE and BONNIE AND CLYDE
File Under: “Let a Thousand Memes Bloom.”
DON’T FORGET
COVER ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Patti Smith’s TWELVE (Sony), which resembles a cover record of Joan Jett’s HIT LIST before swallowing it up.
Covers Project
The Covers Project.org
Lists of Lists