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The District Sleeps Alone Tonight

The Postal Service's electropop song "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" begins as a slow burn, reaching full ignition toward the track's bridge. "District" recounts a breakup, based in part on one lover's move and behavioral changes in a new setting. So extreme is the change, our narrator consistently refers to himself as a "stranger". The song ends with the narrator's surprising admission - he was worth leaving for something else. 

Birdy's interpretation of the song is more morose. The song's tempo is slowed and piano driven, creating a more ballad-esque feel. Backing vocals add a haunting echoing, or as if her inner thoughts are speaking through, confirming fears of being unworthy. 

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I Can't Make You Love Me

The honest, heartbroken ballad "I Can't Make You Love Me" recalls the pain felt in a one sided relationship. First recorded by Bonnie Raitt in 1991, the song has since become a pop standard, covered by a wide variety of artists and especially in talent competitions. The slow rocking of Raitt's vocals, combined with a slow electric piano arrangement assisted by Bruce Hornsby, recalls late night thoughts about the inevitability of an unreciprocated love. 

Bon Iver covered the classic as a B-side to single "Calgary". In many ways, Iver's version is a straight cover, stripped down to just the piano and vocals. The track maintains Justin Vernon's signature vocals, as his delicate voice does well to navigate the broken pieces of a heart found within this song. A fine cover, with a nod to Bonnie Raitt's "Nick of Time" at the song's conclusion.

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Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Tears For Fears tackles the subject of the pursuit power, and its dire consequences in "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". While the track was not initially intended for their album Songs From the Big Chair, the band was convinced to record the track in attempts to appeal to the American audience. A relatively "pop" song, given its dark subject matter, it ended up being the band's most successful single and cracked the top of the charts in the US. 

Lorde's version is a sonically darker attempt to portray the pursuit of power. Full of aggressive clashes and wound up in claustrophobia, Lorde pushes the song forward with an anger appropriately matched to the themes of the song. 

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Do I Ever Cross Your Mind

First written in the early 1970s, "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" is a joyfully sweet song, backed by the rapid finger picking of dueling guitars. The original version, featuring Dolly Parton and Chet Atkins, debuted on Atkins' The Best of Chet Atkins and Friends in 1976. The songs does well to showcase not only each artists talents, but their dear friendship and chemistry. The track is peppered with gentle exchanges, nods of encouragement and compliments between the two. 

Justin Townes Earle and Dawn Landes keeps the upbeat tempo, with Earle and Landes exchanging vocals unlike the original. This version also subtracts a guitar, forgoing the original quick finger picking foundation for a simpler approach. 

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Hound Dog

With a thunderous introduction, Big Mama Thornton owns "Hound Dog". Her massive vocals dominate the song, commanding the listeners attention at every breath. Lost in other cover versions, is the intent of the song, a blues lament sung about needing to rid oneself of a manipulative man. Simply stated, it's a song seething in raw sexuality. 

The most famous cover, although not always recalled as a cover, is Elvis Presley's version. Presley recorded "Hound Dog" some four years later, taking a popular song into the stratosphere. Instead of a blues lament, Presley's version imposes a rockabilly style, permitting a dancelike feel. Not only had the music changed, but so did the lyrics. Gone was the overt raciness of the original, replaced by a more subdued account of the object of the singer's derision. So much so, a listener wouldn't be mistaken if they had originally thought the song to be about an actual hound dog, and not a selfish man.

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All My Friends

LCD Soundsystem's tour de force "All My Friends" takes the listener on a restless journey, supported by the strenuous discipline of the keyboard player and James Murphy's wisdom. In fact, Murphy's wisdom drives the song to it's destination, reliving all the adventures had in youth, and how it's come at the cost of friendship. What's the worth of adventure, when there is no one to share it with? 

Franz Ferdinand bring in the guitars for their cover version of "All My Friends". The bass replaces the keyboard, plus guitars on support create the recognizable "Ferdinandized" sound. There are slight nods to the original, including an introduction of keyboards near the halfway point, but the band is able to style the version to their own strengths. 

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Riptide

Vance Joy's big hit "Riptide" is a delicious hodgepodge of seeming non-sequiturs. However upon closer inspection, the song's descriptions do serve a purpose in promoting the narrators "woman", an envy of all. Joy's slightly urgent beat keeps the song flowing, broken only by a brief solo in the middle and a breakdown ending with Michelle Pfeiffer. The song is hopefully a hint of bigger things to come from the Aussie. 

Fellow Aussie Gossling covered the song during a studio performance to promote her new EP Harvest of Gold. Gossling substitutes a keyboard for the tenor ukulele, and slows the urgency of the original. It's a simplified version of the track, with sparse arrangements complimenting her choice of delicate vocals.

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When the Stars Go Blue

Ryan Adams' gorgeous ballad from the 2001 album Gold narrates the life of a woman who has betrayed her true emotions. Under the guise of "broken eyes" she laughs away in a life she's grown unhappy with. Words like "wooden shoes", and "marionette" clue the listener into her attitude toward her life, reinforced by the frequent "blue" found throughout the song. A star going "blue" suggests her once bright demeanor has turned depressed by the events and choices in her life. 

The Corrs first covered this song on their live album VH1 Presents: The Corrs, Live in Dublin. The performance also featured Bono on vocals, once again created a duet performance from a singular vocal track. The below version was recorded for a Corrs compilation album, released five years later. The duet kicks the tempo up a little bit, and adds more musical arrangements, all the while maintaining the morse tone of Adams' original piece.

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Moon River

The winner for the Academy Award for Best Original Song from 1961, “Moon River” was created specifically to fit Audrey Hepburn’s vocal range. The song is introduced in the opening credits of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but takes center stage later in the film when Fred is pulled away from his typing as Holly begins to sing. It has survived the years, despite Hepburn’s version remaining unreleased until months after her death, and remains one of the most memorable songs in Hollywood history.

Andy Williams’ version continues to be one of the most recognizable versions of “Moon River” to date. Recorded soon after the original, Williams didn’t change much to the initial arrangements, adding his our vocal talents into the mix. Williams vocals add a little more pizazz to the track, but ensures the gentleness remains intact.

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Train Song

"Train Song", composed by Vashti Bunyan in 1966, received little to no attention during its initial release. In fact, Vashti's early recordings were sold so poorly, despite the positive reviews, she left the industry for more than 30 years. In "Train Song" Vashti sings with an urgency, hauntingly sweet in its anticipation. Her voice is both tense and hopeful, mixing a cocktail of emotions leading up to finally reacquainting with love. 

Feist and Ben Gibbard covered the song for the compilation album Dark Was the Night, released in 2009. Their duet scales back the tempo of the original song, allowing the song to breath a bit more.  Much of the cover stays close to the original, however, but the distinct vocals allow for each version to stand on its own.

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I'm on Fire

Bruce Springsteen's moody "I'm on Fire" is full of tension, recounting the narrator's need to quench his obsession. In some ways sounding like a sinister lullaby, "I'm on Fire" is a determined song. While it rocks gently like a familiar country song, Springsteen's vocals and lyrics suggest an underlying motive to the track.

The Whitehorse version reimagines the song as a duet, while maintaining the originals' gentle rocking. The cover hides the dark tones with a friendlier vocals, as if the narrators' object of affection welcomes his advances. A number of versions of the song maintain Springsteens' singular vocals, so a duet is a refreshing interpretation. 

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Teenage Dream

Katy Perry's textbook popsong "Teenage Dream" mimics teenage love, starting cautiously and slowly until committing itself to an explosive confidence in eternal love. "Teenage Dream" is effectively used throughout the song, found both in the bridge and the chorus, and expertly commanded by Perry's vocals.

While countless covers of the song exist, The Horrible Crowes version stands out in its more relaxed and earnest approach. This cover suggests a slightly more mature recollection of past love, forgoing youthful confidence for rebellion against the inevitable loss of innocence. 

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Digital Love

In "Digital Love", Daft Punk awakes a track in mid sleep, struggling to reclaim it's dream once more. The song's sense of longing is disguised by an upbeat rhythm backed by an energetic solo. It's a good enough time to make us all wish we were recalling the same dream. 

Staying on the same side of the Atlantic, Swedish band The Royal Concepts begins the song not in mid slumber but at the point of waking. Unlike the high and lows of the original, this cover builds throughout the song, as if recalling the dream as it progresses to the end. Fun and exciting, the cover maintains the heart of the original, while still sounding distinct.

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Black Star

The blame game. A tried and true formula to avoid responsibility. Unfortunately it only builds an emotional debt, which becomes too much to bare. Radiohead bares the weight in "Black Star" from the heroic The Bends album, only to suffer the same fate we all do at the track's closing. Even if the fates, or the eponymous Black Star, are against you, the culpability lies within the individual. And Radiohead does a fine job orchestrating the consequences as the track descends into a meltdown. 

Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings performed a slower rendition of the song, combining Welch's emotional vocals with a masterful Rawlings guitar backing. This version is effective in portraying the rush of energies and emotions felt in the original Radiohead version with only 2 guitars and 2 singers. 

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I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

Wilco's opening track to their critically and commercially acclaimed album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" begins as an undisciplined chorus of noises before settling as a sprawling epic of desire and frustration. It's a sonically beautiful mess, focused on a deliberate honesty to cut into the heart of the matter. Regret is a terrible demon to wrestle. 

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound took the remorseful track and turned it into something completely different. Soulful and upbeat, this cover is proof risks are worth taking. The group fashioned their own song from the broken pieces of Wilco's master work, incredible in not only the initial concept but execution. A fantastic example on how a cover ought to be realized. 

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Jack the Ripper

The final track on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' 1992 album Henry's Dream, "Jack the Ripper" is as pounding and seething of an ending you'll hear on a closing track. "Jack the Ripper" is an ode to a love gone wrong, with the toxic vocals and aggressive guitar highlighting the downward spiral of a broken relationship. Evoking the comparison of a simple kiss to the ferocious actions of Jack the Ripper further cements the despair and anger our narrator clings onto.

Japandriods covered this song as a B-side to their 2012 single "The House That Heaven Built". This cover builds to an explosive rendition, howling vocals challenging furious drumming to unleash the pent-up frustration fostered at the start of the song. 

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Nothing Compares 2 U

Prince penned this song for his funk band-side project The Family, receiving little to no attention during its release in 1985. It wasn't until 5 years later when Sinéad O'Conner released her own version, that the song blew up into a worldwide hit. A digital version original track is difficult to find, but worth the effort to those who may desire a contrast to the Sinéad O'Conner version. 

Allegedly the two artists did not get along very well, with O'Conner claiming the two came to blows over her public demeanor after the song's success. 

Below is the famous 1990 cover version performed by O'Conner, and the original version song recorded live by The Family can be found here.