Cover Your Ass – The Return of the Reinterpretation | Biennial Covers Playlist

It’s Back!

It’s time once again, ladies & gentlemen, for the unveiling of the Biennial Covers Playlist! Once every two years, I descend into the Sewer of Sound for a couple of months, only to return bearing musical gems in the form of a cover song. I only brave the journey for this playlist (and the annual Christmas list), because shitty covers make me as cranky as a toddler with wet diaper. Think that’s a bit extreme? Four words:

“Careless Whisper.” Pan flute.

I listen to hours of bizarre crap like that to find awesome songs that are worthy of their place on this list. Since many of you are new to my playlists, let me break down how they work.

Playlist Rules

I make loads and loads of playlists every year, mostly for my own entertainment, but the best of every batch get shared with everyone. Generally speaking, I operate around a theme (I’m always taking suggestions!) and choose songs that fit the mood. But I set up some rules to make sure that each list is different and fun:

1. No repeats – I will not repeat a song I’ve used on a published playlist (except on the covers and Christmas lists)
2. One song per artist per playlist
3. I must like this song enough to hear it 500+ times
4. It must fit the theme
5. The entire playlist must fit on a 120 minute CD

The covers list has additional rule:

1. No popular covers – if you’ve already heard it a million times, it’s not likely to show up here.

The covers list is about the joy of discovering new spins on old favorites.

The Covers

 This year I focused a lot on musicians who passed away in 2016, as they’ve all done tremendous covers of others’ work, or been covered by tons of bands. George Michael was the biggest challenge, because most of his covers were so well known that there were no surprises, and most of his songs covered by others were just horrendous. I think I mentioned the pan flute version, right? But I persevered and finally came up with this batch. I found some pretty great stuff this year, and I hope you enjoy!

• What Have You Done For Me Lately? – Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
• Dani California – Montefiori Cocktail
• Sound + Vision – Mechanical Bride
• Hounds Of Love – The Futureheads
• Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) – The Soul Rebels Brass Band
• Sharp Dressed Man – Brad Paisley
• Day Tripper – Domingo Quiñones
• Move On Up – The Jam
• Voodoo Child (Slight Return) – Earth, Wind & Fire
• Bustin’ Loose – Rebirth Brass Band
• Peace Frog – Smash Mouth
• Crazy – The Kooks
• Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher – Chris Ardoin & Double Clutchin’
• Wild Horses – Leon Russell
• One Of Us – Prince
• Shakedown Street – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
• Watermelon Man – Skeewiff
• I Want Your Sex – Brigitte
• Insane In The Brain – The Connells
• Everybody Knows – Concrete Blonde

Now, it’s time to close the lid on the Sewer of Sound, and let it percolate some fun new covers for the next two years.