Weekend Listomania (Special We Can Dream, Can't We? Video Edition)

Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental manservant Hop-Sing and I are off to the San Francisco Zoo, where we will be attending a memorial for somebody or other. We're not sure what exactly the occasion is, but apparently someone named Cat Power will be performing, so it could be a hot one. In any case, posting by moi will necessarily be sporadic for a few days.

But in my absence, here's a fun project for you all to contemplate:

THE GREATEST COVERS THAT NEVER WERE!!!!!!
You know -- some really fabulous song you'd really like to hear some favorite artiste -- solo or group -- perform or record, but so far they haven't gotten around to it (the bastards!!!).

Okay, my totally off the top of my head Top Ten:

10. The Hold Steady -- The Boys Are Back in Town [Thin Lizzy]
They've probably jammed on it a thousand times -- it's about time they go public for gosh sakes.



9. The Posies -- Carrie-Ann [The Hollies]
They already proved they were genetically bred to do Hollies songs with their version of "King Midas in Reverse" -- just think what they would bring to the sunniest of the Clarke-Hicks-Nash classics.



8. The Pretenders -- Every Little Bit Hurts [Brenda Holloway]
My fave 60s soul ballad/torch song would be a natural for Chrissie Hynde, I suspect.



7. Neko Case -- The First Cut Is The Deepest [Cat Stevens]
Because she'd do it better than Sheryl Crow, duh.



6. Steve Earle -- Street Fighting Man [The Rolling Stones]
C'mon -- this is the job he was born for.



5. Bob Mould -- Calvary Cross [Richard Thompson]
On the 1994 Thompson tribute album Beat the Retreat, Mould turned the rockabilly tinged "Turning of the Tide" into a killer piece of buzz-saw punk. I swoon to imagine what he could do with Thompson's most intensely doom-haunted song....



4. Emmylou Harris -- Withered and Died [Richard and Linda Thompson]
I can't recall if Emmy has ever covered a Thompson song, but if she was of a mind to, this one is so heartbreaking I don't know if we'd survive the hearing.



Update: Astute reader Virgotex alerts me in comments that Emmy has, in fact, covered a Thompson song -- the sublime "Dimming of the Day" -- on her Portraits album. "Withered and Died," however, still awaits the Harris caress.

3. Elvis Costello and the Attractions -- Sooner or Later (One of Us Must Know) [Bob Dylan]
If anybody is going to do the most majestic "Blonde On Blonde" song it should be these guys.



2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers -- 19th Nervous Breakdown [The Rolling Stones]
Jagger's snarl would morph into Petty's sly drawl pretty good, doncha think?



And the number one cover I'd love to hear is....

1. Led Zeppelin -- Bits and Pieces [Dave Clark Five]
For obvious reasons.....



Okay -- what would be your picks?

[h/t FeralLiberal]