Cover This! (Cover Versions Playlist)

So here's the first (of what will probably be many) of a particularly lucratively themed playlist category; that of the almighty cover version. These are perhaps my favourite cover songs right now, and I was sparked into making a brief compilation of them by hearing the second song on the list, I Fight Dragons' sweet blip-rock version of Weezer's 'Why Bother?' (first linked to, here).

I jotted these down just before driving up to Auckland last week, and after a little reshuffling - almost by accident - the songlist began to follow a distinctive split between the more rockin' first half, and the downbeat, quieter second half. I quite like that dichotomy, so I left the list as it was. As a result, I'll probably make supplementary lists of cover songs in the future, rather than adding to this particular one.

I've listed the original artists afterwards too. And added credit goes to Self and Teen Heroes who both tick off more than one song from their chosen artist in the same cover. Try to name each song referenced.

1. Self - 'Ana Ng' (Hello Radio: The Songs of They Might Be Giants) (They Might Be Giants)
2. I Fight Dragons - 'Why Bother?' (Weezer (The 8-bit Album)) (Weezer)
3. Ted Leo - 'I'm Looking Through You' (This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute To The Beatles' Rubber Soul) (The Beatles)
4. Teen Heroes - 'Manta Ray' (Where is My Mind?: A Tribute To Pixies) (Pixies)
5. Lily Allen - 'Mr. Blue Sky' (La Musique de Paris Dernière, Vol. 6) (Electric Light Orchestra)
6. OK Go - 'This Will Be Our Year' (Future Soundtrack For America) (The Zombies)
7. Death Cab For Cutie - 'Dream Scream' (The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered) (Daniel Johnston)
8. Mates of State - 'These Days' (Wicker Park OST) (Nico)
9. Basia Bulat - 'Touch the Hem of His Garment' (In the Night EP) (Sam Cooke)
10. Karate - 'Strange Fruit' (In the Fishtank 12) (Billie Holiday)
11. Madeleine Peyroux - 'Between the Bars' (Careless Love) (Elliott Smith)
12. Beck - 'Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime' (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind OST) (The Korgis)