Been awhile since I've done a Friday random ten, so let's get back into it. This one isn't really random, strictly speaking. I came across the song "American Girl", which I'd always identified with Tom Petty, done by Roger Guinn, on a collection of seventies rock music, and it got me to thinking about covers, in particular ones that I have where I also have the original. What follows is a list of songs from my iPod for which I have multiple versions:

1. "Baby, It's Cold Outside" - Asylum Street Spankers/Johnny Mercer & Margaret Whiting. A holiday standard. Wammo's vocals really bring out the subtle creepiness of the male half of the duo, so I like that version more than the somewhat vanilla Mercer/Whiting combo.

2. "Behind the Lines" - Genesis/Phil Collins. It's a little weird for Collins to have covered something he did with Genesis, but his bouncy, horn-infused version is quite different, and in my opinion superior.

3. "Brain Damage" - Austin Lounge Lizards/Pink Floyd. The very first Lounge Lizards song I ever heard. Took me a minute to realize what I was hearing. I've been a devoted fan ever since.

4. "Casey Jones" - Warren Zevon/Grateful Dead. Zevon's version is from a collection of Dead covers called "Deadicated". In general, I prefer the new versions to the originals, and this is no exception.

5. "Come Together" - Aerosmith/Ike & Tina Turner. I don't think I have the original Beatles version. I'll have to doublecheck. Not that it really matters - this tune works best with a singer who's got a superstrong set of pipes, and isn't afraid to use them. Steven Tyler does that well, but there's only one Tina Turner.

6. "Dance This Mess Around" - Asylum Street Spankers/The B-52's. The Spankers have a fair number of covers in their repertoire, and it's fair to say they span a broader spectrum than most, and put more of their stamp on their covers than most. I had a hard time believing this wasn't one of their freaky originals when I first heard it. And I still don't know what "all sixteen dances" are, since the song only names about half that many.

7. "Desperado" - Clint Black/Lager Rhythms. Another one for which I don't have the original. I actually kinda prefer the Eagles' rendition best - there's just something about Don Henley's voice. That said, Clint Black's countrified version works well, and I'm always a sucker for a capellas. Call it a three-way tie.

8. "Five O'Clock World" - Flying Fish Sailors/The Vogues. A very faithful rendering by the Fish of a song I really like. Their version is a bit more spare, and I think that tips the scales in its favor for me.

9. "Gloria" - Patti Smith/Van Morrison. I almost didn't realize this was the same song, as Smith's version is more than twice as long as Morrison's. Dave Barry once wrote that if you threw a guitar over a cliff, if would bang out the chords for this song on its way down as it bounced off the rocks. That may be true, but given a choice, I want that guitar to be Van the Man's.

10. "God Bless the Child" - Billie Holiday/Blood, Sweat & Tears/Julie Murphy. I know this is going to make me sound like a heretic, but I prefer the BS&T version over Billie Holiday's. Go ahead, mock me for that.

That's ten songs and I'm still in the Gs. I'll continue this next week.