Rich Heldenfels, Pop Culture Wanderer

I've been trying out SiriusXM's Covers channel lately and, for the most part, I've been underwhelmed. There is the occasional classic, such as Talking Heads' "Take Me to the River" (previously Al Green's) and tracks I didn't know but found intriguing (Chris Cornell's "Billie Jean" for one) but those are exceptions on a channel that seems most committed to covers of relatively recent songs by current artists, even when the result isn't much. This is all the more disappointing because there are so many great covers. You could spend hours just on Aretha Franklin, famous for taking others' songs and making them better (see "Respect," "Son of a Preacher Man," "Don't Play That Song") or for just interpreting them splendidly (see "96 Tears" and dozens more). There are ample covers by Bob Dylan (especially his series of Sinatra-era tunes), Joe Cocker, Judy Collins, Willie Nelson ... So much...

The weather here in NE Ohio has been dreadful for a couple of days. There are puddles in the yard and the basement pump is getting a bigger workout than I came close to in the gym this morning. But so much rain also puts songs in my head, including the ones below. A lot of bumming there, but that's how it feels. Ann Peebles, "I Can't Stand the Rain" Willie Nelson, "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" Dramatics, "In the Rain" The Beatles, "Rain" Prince, "Purple Rain" Eurythmics, "Here Comes the Rain Again" Carpenters, "Rainy Days and Mondays"