Betwixt The Covers: The Mixtape

Mixwit.com is a fierce website brought to my attention a while ago on the Pop Candy blog, which is a must-read blog for pop culture junkies like me. You can create a digital mixtape, which can then be posted on a blog like this one, (or on your MySpace or Facebook or personal website) I finally had time to sit down and make a mixtape of cover songs that I love, and add a spicy title: Betwixt The Covers.

Some of these are naughty hip-hop songs covered in a more earnest style, like Jill Sobule's folksy take on Nelly's "Hot In Herre" or Alanis's emo-piano version of Black Eyed Peas ode to T&A, "My Humps." Others find the emotional connection in a fluffy pop song and twist it's heartbreaking core, like Grizzly Bear's Daniel Rossen does to JoJo's "Too Little Too Late."


Some are just brilliant takes on brilliant songs, like k. d. lang's masterful cover of Leonard Cohen's modern standard "Hallelujah" or the way Petra Haden recreates Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" (guitar solos and all) using only her voice. Mary J Blige proves that you just need to add a soulful black lady to any song to improve it, just look at her version of "One" by U2. The most beautiful nonsense song of modern times, "Stars Go Blue" by Ryan Adams gets a shimmery pop sheen from Irish group The Corrs. Bryan Adams' "Heaven" was remade into a dance floor anthem a few years ago by DJ Sammy, but the Candlelight Remix is a stunning piano ballad version that will bring a tear to your eyes.


Other's just switch up the gender vocals without disturbing the gender pronouns, like the Artic Monkey's drumtastic reading of Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good" or the Of Montreal version of M.I.A.'s cover of "Jimmy" from the Bollywood film Disco Dancer. It's often just straight up fun, like Britney Spear's "Toxic" covered by Mark Ronson, with a filthy rap from the late Ol' Dirty Bastard, which defies description.


I could have done a mixtape of just David Cook's brilliant covers from American Idol, like "Little Sparrow" and "Billie Jean", but I already did that for three people this week. Instead I'm just including the cover that could have been a radio hit by Goo Goo Dolls or Lifehouse, his take on Mariah Carey's torchy stalker anthem "Always Be My Baby"


And what cover collection would be complete without Rihanna's "Umbrella"? I went with the version that conveyed the most emotion, by Manic Street Preachers, but you can find covers by Marie Digby, Tegan & Sara, Plain White T's, My Chemical Romance and Mandy Moore elsewhere online.