Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson's cover transforms Neil Young's rustic love song into a slow, smoky meditation on enduring desire, stretching…
enduring love desire and memory nature as intimacy
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin takes Sam Cooke's 1957 declaration of devotion and rebuilds it as a gospel-charged testimony of pleasure,…
romantic devotion desire as overwhelming force reclamation/reinterpretation
Cat Power
This is Cat Power's slowed, hushed reinterpretation of a Velvet Underground song, stripping away the original's arrangement in…
faith and doubt devotion persuasion versus surrender
Adele
A breakup anthem that transforms grief into a threat, built on gospel-inflected repetition and a rising, percussive arrangement.…
betrayal and revenge transformation of pain into power lost potential
Cat Power strips the Rolling Stones' garage-rock anthem of its swagger and turns it into something hushed, sad, and almost…
alienation commercial saturation exhaustion
Johnny Cash
This is Johnny Cash's straightforward reading of the traditional carol, sung without irony or reinterpretation. The interest…
nativity reverence light versus darkness
Seal
This is Seal's cover of the Al Green soul standard, a straightforward vow of devotion rendered in his signature smoky vocal…
devotion commitment through hardship romantic idealization
Bill Withers
This is Bill Withers's reading of the Beatles standard, taken from his 1971 debut album. Rather than write new lyrics, Withers…
surrender and acceptance comfort in crisis maternal/spiritual guidance
Solange
A slow, hymn-like meditation on exhaustion and self-possession, "Weary" opens the emotional register of A Seat at the Table by…
exhaustion and endurance Black womanhood and dignity mortality of power
The Beach Boys
This is a straightforward cover of the 1950 novelty Christmas standard, delivered by The Beach Boys with their signature vocal…
childhood wonder impermanence seasonal magic
Willie Nelson
This is a cover of Coldplay's 2002 song, reinterpreted by Willie Nelson as a weathered, plainspoken confession of regret rather…
regret and apology the limits of reason against feeling longing for a return to simplicity
Snoop Dogg
A minimalist club track built on a single triple-word command that gets reinterpreted verse to verse, moving between seduction,…
status and wealth display sexual conquest street/gang loyalty