We all know that it’s a man’s man’s man’s man’s world. But it would be a much less enjoyable place without the voices of women.

Cat Power “New York New York” (Frank Sinatra)
Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) is another of the darlings of the Pitchfork Media crowd. Her music has always had a pleasant languor, but all her songs have sounded very similar to me. On her latest CD she worked with a bunch of Memphis studio pros and came out with some music that reminds me of Joan Osborne.

Joan Osborne “Smiling Faces Sometimes” (The Undisputed Truth)
Speaking of Joan Osborne, here’s a slinky version of the Motown classic.

Anna Fermin’s Trigger Gospel “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” (Doris Day)
I’ve always thought of Doris Day as the white bread woman’s answer to Pat Boone. Anna Fermin shows how her music can swing.

Sallly Timms “Old Flames Can’t Hold A Candle To You” (Dolly Parton)
This is a great song to play for your jealous boyfriend or girlfriend.

P.J. Harvey and Eric Drew Feldman “Zaz Turned Blue” (Was (Not Was))
The original version of this song featured Mel Torme as a guest vocalist and is a classic example of twisted postmodern lounge music. P.J. Harvey wrings every last bit of emotion out of this weird story about what happened to a kid after his friend strangled him.

This week we’ve got both sides of Country and Western covers. Songs that sound country when they’re not supposed to and country songs that are a little different.

Brødrene Lövenstjerne “Nothing Compares 2 U” (Prince/Sinead O’Connor)
This is from a Norwegian Prince tribute album that he’s suing to have pulled. Since Prince’s little purple lawyers might send me a stern note demanding I take the song down I’d advise you to check it out while it’s still available.

The BossHoss “All The Things She Said” (t.A.T.u.)
A German band doing a country cover of a song by a prefab Russian pop duo, brought to you on the Internet. These are amazing times we’re living in, people.

The Knitters “Baby Out Of Jail” (Marty Robbins)
The Knitters are L.A. punk rockers X playing country music. Their album Poor Little Critter In The Road caused many snotty punk fans to take country music seriously.

The Groovegrass Boyz “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” (Bill Monroe)
This is what happens when Bootsy Collins plays bluegrass.

Cowboy Junkies “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (Hank Williams)
A very dreamy song with some beautiful pedal steel work.

California is in flames. It happens every year around this time, but it’s still pretty dramatic. Not to mention dangerous to lots of people. Here are a few tunes for my friends in the Golden State to listen to while they flee the fires.

GIANTfingers “Baby’s On Fire” (Brian Eno)
The original version is pretty foreboding. This one chugs along quite innocently, despite the disturbing lyrics.

Shirley Bassey “Light My Fire” (The Doors)
Shirley Bassey can certainly belt out a tune. She’s been doing a lot of covers lately of contemporary songs, apparently trying to follow the Tom Jones career track.

Albert Kuvezin and Yat-Kha “Play With Fire” (Rolling Stones)
Every time there are fires in California they end up busting some idiot for starting some of the fires intentionally. Remember kids, if you play with fire Smokey the Bear will maul you in your sleep.

The Goddard High School Stage Band “Fire” (Jimi Hendrix Experience)
I’m sure that the band director had big sideburns and desperately wanted the kids to think he was hip.

This Kid Named Miles “Ring Of Fire” (Anita Carter/Johnny Cash)
Let’s say you’re a reggae band and you want to cover a song that wasn’t written by Bob Marley or Peter Tosh. What’s the most logical choice? “Ring Of Fire” of course.

I probably should have done my Independence Day post last week but I was inspired by my Kiwi houseguest. Anyway, here are some songs to listen to as you nurse your patriotic hangover.

Yes “America” (Simon And Garfunkle)
Yes is everything that was terrible about corporate rock music in the 70s. Album after album of pompous, bloated arena rock. And apparently every song they touched ended up like that.

The Butthole Surfers “American Woman” (The Guess Who)
A corrosive, almost unlistenable take on the great Canadian song about America. Take that Lenny Kravitz!

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes “Coming To America” (Neil Diamond)
The Gimme Gimmes are always the easy choice when you’re looking for a cover, but this is the only cover I could find of this little slice of flag-waving bombast.

Willie Nelson “America The Beautiful” (Traditional)
This really should be the American national anthem. Anybody can sing it and it talks about the wondrous beauty of our country. Willie does a great job with it.

Marvin Gaye “The Star Spangled Banner” (Traditional)
The Star Spangled Banner is a very difficult song to sing but it’s truly beautiful when sung well. This version was recorded before an NBA all-star game.