First one I thought of - Kate Rusby: Village Green Preservation Society

B-side of a Pulp single called Bad Cover Version, so a bit meta as well as being a good song.

I think this is just fabulous. Rare, too.

as done by Laibach - knocks spots off the original.

Adds to my "theory" that the best cover versions are usually those of the weakest originals (duh!)

The Smiths' Never Had No One Ever is pretty good - adds a healthy dollop of sleazy desperation that Moz could never summon on the original.

which I rediscovered recently. Heartbreaking lyrics!

This was performed after Zevon had revealed he was terminally ill. It redfines the word "heartbreaking".

Back in the day the Redskins were up there in my top one bands. Their songs were great, their politics kind of made sense to a right-on 15/16 year old and I could play bits of their tunes on my guitar. I bought all of their singles in all formats 7", 10" 12" and all re-mixes including the album on vinyl and cassette and later on cd.In Chris Moore they had a powerful vocalist who could also apparently talk the hind legs off the proverbial.

Now though, when the ipod throws up one of their songs on shuffle I invariably forward it. I sort of like the idea of the politics but they don't really work for me. Obviously after 20 odd years life has moved on with marriage, kids and careers and I guess I'm now one of the bosses they would be railing against.

This version of Levi Stubbs though is ace apart from the speech at the beginning which has always made me feel a bit like they were trying too hard. I don't know, maybe it's just me.