1. Rockin’ In The Free World – Neil Young (#216)
2. Gloria – Van Morrison (#211; also covered by Patti Smith and Santa Esmerelda)
3. Reach Out, I’ll Be There – The Four Tops (#209)
4. Try A Little Tenderness – The Commitments (orig. Otis Redding, #207)
5. Come Together – Aerosmith/Ike & Tina Turner/John Lennon (orig. The Beatles, #205)
6. Bizarre Love Triangle – Frente! (orig. New Order, #204)
7. Don’t Be Cruel – Cheap Trick (orig. Elvis Presley, #200)
8. Sweet Child O’Mine – Guns ‘n’ Roses (#198; also covers by Slash, Sheryl Crow, Taken By Trees, Eliza Lumley, and Banda Do Sul)
9. There Goes My Baby – The Drifters (#196)
10. Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell (#195)
Song I don’t have but should, part 1: “Your Cheatin’ Heart”, Hank Williams (#217). Yeah, I know. That’s a pretty big hole in my collection.
Song for which my favorite cover version was never recorded: “1999”, Prince (#215). The Asylum Street Spankers did an amazing version of this in their early days, which is to say before Y2K. I heard them do it live several times, but as far as I know they never recorded it. I suppose there could be a bootleg out there somewhere, but I suspect this one will have to live in my memory.
Song I used to have but don’t any more: “Bye Bye, Love”, Everly Brothers (#210). The version I had – on vinyl, of course – was from the All That Jazz soundtrack. It’s, um, a very different arrangement.
Song I don’t have but should, part 2: “Lean On Me”, Bill Withers (#208). I like the more modern version that got a lot of radio airplay, by an artist whose name I don’t think I’ve ever known, but for these purposes I’ll take the original.
Best song to play as background music for an opposing sports team: “Loser”, Beck (#203). I have attended one Houston Texans game, and this is the song their stadium sound person had going when the PA announcer introduced the starting lineup for the other team. It made me laugh.
Technically, “Gloria” was done by Them, but Van Morrison wrote it and was the lead singer, and the version I have comes from his greatest hits CD, so. Yes, I really have that many versions of “Sweet Child O’Mine”. The covers were all free downloads from Popdose.