I'm not sure I can even begin to tell you how much I love cover songs, but damn it, I'll try. What could be better than a band/artist you like, remaking a song by a band/artist you like? Besides Ben & Jerry's "Pistachio, Pistachio" ice cream or baby animals, I can't really think of much else. It's like having your favorite shirt in every color.

As an avid concert goer, I'd have to say my favorite moment of a show (since the two people that read this are dying to know anyway) is when the artist decides to cover another artists' song. I'm aware that I'm at the show to see their material but when they choose to cover a song, I feel like it's a special moment (corniest sentence of the day). They are picking a song they like, to play for you, and chances are, you're going to like it too. So when Dave Matthews plays, "Angel From Montgomery," or Sara Bareilles covers, "I'm On Fire," we're bonding. The few seconds after I realize that it is indeed a cover song, are seconds that bring me true joy. The 32,827th reason why cover songs are admirable is that many times it opens the door to new music. I remember seeing Camera Obscura this past summer and they played, "Tougher Than The Rest," originally done by The Boss himself (Bruce Springsteen, retards). I love Bruce, but had never come across this song until Camera Obscura covered it. Camera Obscura did their job of covering a song well because now, I have come to know and love the original Bruce song.

Ostensibly, no cover version is going to be better than the original but my favorite ones are usually the ones that make me question just that. With some of these songs below, I genuinely question whether or not their interpretation of the song is better than the original. Of course there are an endless amount of cover versions out there to choose from which I couldn't be happier about, but the renditions below are gems. Get familiar.

Camera Obscura - "Tougher Than The Rest" (Bruce Springsteen)

Vampire Weekend - "Everywhere" (Fleetwood Mac)

The Beatles - "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" (The Miracles)

The Band - "Atlantic City" (Bruce Springsteen)

Sia - "Under The Milky Way" (The Church)

Jose Gonzales - "Heartbeats" (The Knife)

Fiona Apple - "Across The Universe" (The Beatles)

Beck - "Sunday Morning" (The Velvet Underground)

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Back in 2001, Apple® released a new MP3 player that would change the way people listened to music. It's called an iPod. Oh, you've heard of it? I'm sure you have one, and if you don't, you know someone that does. I remember hearing about this thing and thinking what an amazing invention it was and how incredibly bad I needed one. A device that could hold all my music in one place? I can carry it my pocket? You mean I don't need to carry my 500 compact disc briefcase around with me anymore? Sounds like a wet dream to me. I bought one for myself as soon as I had enough money to do so. I was in my second semester of my Junior year of college so, let me see, that would make it 2004. I didn't need books for my classes that badly anyway. Six years later, I'm on my third iPod and if my current one broke today, the first thing I would do tomorrow is buy another one. I'm sickly addicted to it. When most people leave their house, they do the standard, wallet, keys, phone check. My checklist is the same but add iPod. So, you get it. I love my iPod.

Every now and then, I suffer some side effects of owning an iPod. For example, I have difficulty choosing what it is that I want to listen to. It's almost as if there are too many choices. How am I supposed to pick one song that I want to listen to when there are 5,000 on here? 4,000 of which I probably love. The pressure is simply paralyzing. Not only is there that, but then finally, I pick a song and I'm about two minutes into it and BAM! I want to listen to this song instead. I HATE when people turn mid-song! I do it all the time. My oldest, iPodless brother refers to this phenomena as "iPoditis." Apparently, it's a common sickness. And finally, my least favorite side effect of owning an iPod, I forget about songs; Songs I love. I never thought there could be such a thing as owning too much music, but I think there is. I'm not sure about anyone else's music listening habits, but mine, mine I know. Most of the time I have about 8 "go to" albums that I incessantly listen to. They never get old, I love them and they love me. The rest of the time, I am probably obsessed with one or two new albums I recently discovered and I'll listen to those until my ears bleed and they become part of my "go to" list. But what this cycle does is force so many great, individual songs to get lost in the gigabytes. There have been many a time where my iPod has been on shuffle and a random song will come on that I love so much but have neglected too long. In the instant where that happens, I am the happiest girl alive for approximately 1.2 seconds. It's like seeing an old best friend that you used to see everyday. This is usually followed by self loathing for forgetting about the song in the first place. There is a big difference between scrolling through my iPod and flipping through my cd case. With the latter, I can actually see and touch the discs and there is something to be said for that. Come to think of it, I miss my 500 compact disc briefcase.

Below are a few "old best friends" that I saw recently because the shuffle on my iPod allowed it. Man, I missed them.

Phish - "Wading In The Velvet Sea (live)"
David Gray - "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye"
The Buzzcocks - "Why Can't I Touch It?"
The Flaming Lips - "Race For The Prize"
Tori Amos - "A Sorta Fairytale"
Coldplay - "The Scientist"
Counting Crows - "Rain King (acoustic)"

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