Earworm of the Day: Lucy Wainwright Roche - Call Your Girlfriend

Earworm of the Day: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Earworm of the Day: Lorde - Swingin' Party

I'm a bit long in the tooth to follow every new singer-songwriter, but cover the Replacements, and you're okay in  my book. I saw this linked on a 'Mats fan site and had to share.

That Rolling Stone Cover

I've been disappointed to find so little nuanced discussion over Rolling Stone's cover story on the surviving Boston Marathon bomber, even from people I usually respect. This post from Amanda Marcotte (and the discussion that follows it) is one of the better ones.

Earworm of the Day: Gayngs - Cry

Growing up as a kid in the 80s, Godley and Creme's "Cry" was one of the first videos I watched, probably not on MTV, which in 1985 hadn't come to my town yet, but on one of those late-night video shows that played the most random assortment of clips. The floating, morphing heads were among some of the creepiest video imagery I'd seen to date (I was similarly disturbed by Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face"), and the song's echoey, vaguely funeral vibe just added to its weirdness. Gaynes version is scarily true to the original if it were played at the wrong speed. I'm not sure if I love this or hate it, but either way I can't stop listening to it.

Earworm of the Day: Ciccone Youth - Addicted to Love

I was never the biggest fan of Sonic Youth. Like so many artists in the 90s, when formerly underground music was becoming mainstream, I bought their records. I liked them, but they never were "my band." This, however, is one of the weirdest, coolest things they've done.

Recorded in a Karaoke booth, their side project, Ciccone Youth's deadpan cover of "Addicted to Love" smacks of everything that was great about the 90s --  mining its disposable "pop" culture and turning it on its head:

Earworm of the Day: Esther Ofarim - Bird on a Wire

I love me a Leonard Cohen cover done well (obviously!), and Israeli singer Esther Ofarim's (who turns 70 today) doesn't disappoint. Actually, it's stunning:

One Song(writer), Many Voices: Dylan

A while back I wrote about freeing myself from Bob Dylan. I mean, freeing myself of the idea that I absolutely must love someone so critically adored. It was, um, freeing. Anyway, I realized that I actually do like quite a few Dylan covers, particularly covers done by female artists. It doesn't make his misogyny any more palatable, but it does add another dimension to some of those songs I professed to "hate." Here are a few that I think stand out for various reasons. Some border on camp, some self-serious, but I'm drawn to all of them:

Cover of the Day: Cat Power - Dark End of the Street

My all-time favorite version of "Dark End of the Street" is the Gram Parson's, but Chan's doesn't disappoint.

Listen to Amanda Palmer Perform Radiohead's "Idioteque"

Courtesy of NPR, you can hear Amanda Palmer (late of the Dresden Dolls) cover Radiohead's "Idioteque."

"This is why some braced themselves for Dresden Dolls frontwoman Amanda Palmer's latest escapade: a whole album of covers — and Radiohead covers, no less. Palmer self-released the short work, titled Amanda Palmer Plays the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele, in July. All obligatory skepticism aside, the songs are vivid and endearing. She does "Creep," "Fake Plastic Trees" and "No Surprises," among others. That might not sound too exciting, but Palmer's raw, confident delivery makes these reinterpretations worthwhile."

Cover of the Day: Nina Simone - Suzanne

I have to do a little site maintenance this weekend, so things make look a wonky for a while. The search button, which I assume no one used, is broken and has been for a while, and the comment policy needs a slight update, and I have a few sitting in limbo that I need to deal with. (Just a reminder, if you want to throw facts at me, check them, please.)

Moving on...

I'm not usually a fan of Leonard Cohen covers. There are so few that are done right, and too many artists like to turn his songs into overblown power ballads. Nina Simone's "Suzanne" is one of the good ones. No, it's one of the best.

Cool Cover of the Day: Strawberry Switchblade - Jolene

I love Dolly covers, the weirder the better. I'm not all that well-versed in obscure Scottish punk, so here's a little band background, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Rose McDowall and Jill Bryson were classic Glasgow punks. As the punk rock scene electrified Glasgow in the late '70s, they were a part of the bohemian art scene who adored the New York Dolls and who followed Scottish punk band Nu-Sonics during their career.[2] As friends, McDowall and Bryson socialised in Glasgow pubs, catching many local bands at the time. One of these bands was Orange Juice, fronted by Edwyn Collins. Those emerging from New Pop and Orange Juice had recorded a live version of "Felicity" as a flexi-disc and intended to release it. The fanzine was to be named after a James Kirk song, and was to be called "Strawberry Switchblade". The fanzine never materialised, however, and the flexi eventually appeared as an addition to the debut Postcard single "Falling and Laughing". The name Strawberry Switchblade became Rose and Jill's moniker as they began their career to pop stardom.

Cool Cover of the Day: Grace Jones's Nightclubbing

Weirdly enough, Grace Jones is part of the this year's Coachella line-up.

This funky-by-way-of-creepy cover of the Bowie-penned "Nightclubbing" (made famous by Iggy Pop) sort of scared me as a kid (so did Queensryche's "Silent Lucidity," but that's a story for another day). ButI came around and learned to respect, and embrace, the artistry behind the oddness. Annalee from Bitch Blogs says:

Recording since 1977, Grace Jones has released ten studio albums and racked up Saturn Award, MTV Music Video Award, and Grammy nominations along the way. She moved from disco to New Wave to dub reggae to dance, all while collaborating with musicians from as many backgrounds as the genres she sampled. Her lengthy multi-media career is far more detailed and complicated than I can quickly describe here, but the least I can do is put her at the top of the list.

Nightclubbing - Grace Jones