Parsing The Decade: Top 10 Covers!

As you probably know, I'm addicted to cover versions. Mess up someone's song and I'll be forever grateful. So, as I put together my decade lists, there's a ton of covers floating around. Without further ado, here's my Top Ten:

1. Knock Loud - Neko Case (covering Sook Yin-Lee) - A beautiful song that hopefully found a bigger audience with Neko's version
2. If You Can Want - The Dirtbombs (The Miracles) - The bangin'-est track from the amazing Ultraglide In Black
3. Come On Petunia - The Blow (a copyright skirting cover of Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic) - Weird electro treatment of The Police's fake reggae song
4. Such Great Heights - Iron & Wine (The Postal Service) - A hushed, acoustic take on the indie technopop gem
5. The Waltze Of The Tennis Players - Meg Baird (Fraser & Debolt) Today's obscure folkie (from the Espers) presenting ancient obscure folkies
6. Out Of Step - The Soft Pink Truth (Minor Threat) - Because the world was asking for a jacked-up club jam version of straight edge punk. Right?
7. Bicycle Race - Be Your Own Pet (Queen) - Punk brats eviscerate a dum-dum oldie.
8. He Did It - The Detroit Cobras (The Ronettes) - Michigan's distaff cover specialists give
9. When I Was A Baby - The New Pornographers (The Donner Party) - Worlds collide when the New P's dig up one of Sam Coombes from Quasi's first songs.
10. Hallelujah - Kathryn Williams (covering John Cale's version of Leonard Cohen) - To me, this is the definitive take on a modern-day hymn.

Bonus points to two amazing Kate Bush covers: Wuthering Heights - The Puppini Sisters and Hounds Of Love - The Futureheads. And special recognition must go to Petra Haden's all-in cover of the entire Who Sell Out album. Thanks to Matt Berry for his cover of album covers, including Thriller as seen above.

(Boring technical note: In order to bring you all 10, tracks 1 and 2 go to Lala, not Blip.fm, and #7 and #10 goes to YouTube. )