Best Cover Ever

To my mind, two things have to happen for a cover song to be worth the space it takes to store it.

First, the cover has to be good. What's good, is, of course, a matter of taste. For me, and I suspect for most people, if I'm going to like a cover, the artist performing it is generally going to be somebody I like in the first place. Oddly, whether or not I like the original artist doesn't seem to matter much at all.

Second, the artist performing the cover has to make it their own somehow. What's the point of a cover song that sounds exactly like the original? Why not just listen to the original?

These two conditions aren't all that hard to meet. I can think of several covers off the top of my head that qualify: M Ward's cover of Let's Dance, Devotchka's new EP of cover songs, Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah.

But for a cover to become a true classic, something else has to happen. I'm not sure what - call it magic, if you want - but whatever it is, it's present on this PJ Harvey/Bjork collaboration. In this case, I think it has to do with the combination of their personalities, the way they're each themselves and the way they fit together.

Take a listen.

Satisfaction