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The quintessential rockstar of Argentine music, Charly García, covered "I'll feel a whole better" at the end of the 80s, and it became a hit. I did not find out it was a cover until many years after I first heard it. So, for me, this is the original, and the Byrds' version is just the surprisingly apt cover.

Together with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, I think ABBA completes the trilogy of eminently coverable artists. Great tunes, ready to be freed (or not) from their pop trappings. Super Trouper may be their best song, playing with the contrast between the sad lyrics and the catchy melody. Scottish indie darlings Camera Obscura cover it, instead, leaning into the melancholy.

Today I'll finally start learning 6502 assembly, both as a fun project and as a gesture of resistance. And I'll be doing it in style.

I think Bob Dylan is the archetype of the coverable artist: great songs that have a kind of raw quality to them, as if inviting someone else to put their spin on it. Jimi Hendrix took the opportunity and his version became way more famous than the original; Bryan Ferry and Cat Power made whole albums of Dylan covers. Here we have, from a great singer, a jazzy laid back version of a track from Dylan's best album (I don't want to budge even for an "arguably").

I really like song covers. There can something magical in the reinterpretation, in the mix of familiar and new. I'll be uploading covers here as an exercise for myself to compile them, and in the hopes that someone discovers a new take on a favorite classic.

Let's start with the honored tradition (but notoriously hard to get right) of covering The Beatles, this time by the enormously talented Nina Simone.

This was posted from the mobile client I'm working on.