31 December 2021 - Cœur De Pirate - You Know I'm No Good

If you didn't know that a Cœur de Pirate song was going to close 2021 here, you haven't been paying attention.  .

Or you don't read Wicked Guilty Pleasures.  

Anyway, I was experiencing déjà vu today. You see, I was about to talk about how Cœur de Pirate had been commissioned to do an album of covers for the Canadian drama Trauma, and also was going to go into how I was insisting on spelling it "Cœur" and not "Coeur" like YouTube insists upon doing to be accurate to the French.... even though the link to this post makes it look like her stage name is "Cur" because URLs can't have an œ in them.....

And I was going to link the other Trauma post I made to this - but it turns out, I said literally all that I was going to say HERE in THAT post.  

So, instead, I'm going to talk about how brilliant this Amy Winehouse cover is.  It's subtle and quiet and dark, with nothing but piano to accompany Béatrice Martin's voice.  

30 December 2021 - First Aid Kit - Running Up That Hill

I feel like I've been neglecting this blog in favor of Wicked Guilty Pleasures, and I might merge the two blogs someday.   Maintaining two music blogs is a full time job in and of itself.  

But I've endeavored to try to do better this year, and, well, this was our biggest year since 2013.  I'm pretty proud of that.  

And I love this blog, and I love covers.  Take this folksy reading of one of Kate Bush's best known songs by Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit.  It's beautiful in its quiet start that grows to an exciting conclusion!

29 December 2021 - E.G. Daily - Breathe

I think I've made enough Tommy Pickles jokes for one year.  I should probably just feature the artist who voiced Tommy Pickles.  

Well, at age 51, she tried out for The Voice and, well, spoiler alert, she made it to Team Blake.  Never mind that she had a recording contract in the 80's, was on American Bandstand with Dick Clark, sang on Friends as a guest star (friend of Phoebe, for those who are so inclined), and was in Pee Wee's Big Adventure, but she STILL tried out for The Voice.  

And, she killed it.  

28 December 2021 - Charly Bliss - Heart of Glass

Remember when we did a ton of covers of this song some time ago?

Gosh, I wish we hadn't missed this one.  But I wouldn't discover this band for another couple of weeks.

And yeah, this song sounds a little bit like Tommy Pickles singing Blondie, but the combination of the musical reinterpretation - a darker mix of the original music - and the Eva Hendricks (not E.G. Daily - oh, you didn't expect me to know who voiced Tommy Pickles?!) nearly childlike vocal really hits hard.  Plus, I like it when artists don't try to do a Debbie Harry impersonation.    

27 December 2021 - The Wiggles - Your Song

Remember when The Wiggles covered Tame Impala?  Ah, that was a great moment in 2021 music.

Turns out, they do a LOT of covers.  Everyone wants to hear the world's most popular band for kids do songs for adults.  Which, when you harmonize for a living, comes pretty easily.  Here they are doing an Elton John classic.

25 December 2021 - Lights - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

You're reading Totally Covered on Christmas Day, too?

Well, then, you get more Lights, this time covering the John Lennon classic Christmas song in an electronic way.

3 December 2021 - Hole - You Know You're Right

Courtney Love was the lead vocalist for Hole, and also the widow of Kurt Cobain.  So, it makes sense that she would cover her husband's last song live.  She sings it differently than he did - softer, sweeter, more reverently.