I grew up on heavy metal. Now that I’m an old fart I still enjoy the songs, but with a slightly different style.

The Cardigans “Iron Man” (Black Sabbath)
A tremendously heavy song is turned into a pleasant piece of Scandanavian pop music.

Hellsongs “Breaking The Law” (Judas Priest)
The singer for Judas Priest very bravely faced career suicide by coming out of the closet. But was it really a surprise given his leatherman outfits?

This is from the brilliantly titled CD Hymns In The Key Of 666.

Pat Boone “Holy Diver” (Dio)
This song is so overblown and grandiose that it just begs for the big Vegas treatment. It also makes me think that someday we’ll see Ronnie James Dio doing two shows a night at the Sands.

Pastel Vespa “I Was Made For Loving You” (KISS)
Back in the day concerned parents said the KISS stood for Kids In Satan’s Service. Those were simpler, more innocent times. Now Gene Simmons has his own “reality” TV show to feed his fame-whore tendencies and doesn’t seem nearly so threatening.

I really like the mariachi horn section on this one.

Flat Pack “Sweet Child O’ Mine” (Guns N’ Roses)
This song’s a disco-tronic dance extravaganza that sounds amazingly similar to “Situation” by Yaz. Somebody should be suing somebody.

Have you ever found yourself in the mood for some sophisticated pop music? That’s my mood this week so that’s what I’m posting.

Dinah Washington “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby?” (Louis Jordan)
I don’t post a lot of remixes, but this song just slays me. This comes to us from the first Verve Remixed CD.

Bell “Moon River” (Audrey Hepburn)
I know nothing about Bell but I do like the breezy arrangement. I thought about posting Morrisey’s version but it’s nine minutes long, which is about six minutes longer than it really needs to be.

Terry Hill & Marijne “Dream A Little Dream” (Frankie Laine)
My wife used to sing this song to our daughter at bedtime. It was very sweet until our daughter started asking me to sing her songs at bedtime. There aren’t a whole lot of songs I know the words to that are appropriate for a two-year-old. I eventually ended up singing her “The Sad Milkman” by the Handsome Family and “Doctor Worm” by They Might Be Giants. So far she doesn’t seem any worse for the experience.

The Jody Grind “It Ain’t Necessarily So” (comp. George and Ira Gershwin)
This band features the vocals of Kelly Hogan, one of my favorite singers. She also tends bar at the Hideout, my favorite bar. If you ever get the chance, tip her generously.

Gary Schneider “Indian Love Call” (Nelson Eddy)
Early in Cover Freak’s history I posted Mr. Schneider’s version of “Green Tambourine.” He tracked me down (I never asked how, I just assumed that he googled himself) and we started corresponding. He wound up sending me a CD that he recorded in his living room, from which I chose this song to share. Mr. Schneider gives it a swinging lounge treatment on his organ.

Hosting a large family gathering on Thursday has left me with less time than usual for theme-mongering. So here’s a nice selection of random stuff.

Dolapdere Big Gang “Smoke On The Water” (Deep Purple)
Generous reader Steve Wiles sent me this song all the way from Turkey. He tells me that these guys are a Romany band whose debut album consisted entirely of 80s/90s songs covered in this style. It makes me want to belly dance.

Rob Wasserman and Lou Reed “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)” (Frank Sinatra)
Session bassist Rob Wasserman put out an album in the early 90s called Duets where he played duets with various artists. Presumably all the ones that owed him a favor. It was a hit-and-miss affair but I really like this song.

I went to see Lou Reed when he was touring for his New York album. He played pretty much the entire album, took a break, and came out for a second set, which he started with this song. Very cool.

Violent Femmes “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?” (Culture Club)
Gordon Gano’s adenoidal vocals just fit this song so well.

Ol’ Yeller “In God’s Country” (U2)
I don’t like U2. I find their music prententious and I think Bono is a preening self-righteous prick. But this song does work well with pedal steel guitars weeping all over it.

Lou Rawls “Evil Woman” (Spooky Tooth)
You probably haven’t heard of Spooky Tooth. You probably have heard of Gary “Dreamweaver” Wright. Spooky Tooth was his band before he set out for a solo career. ST were pretty big in England but never really made it in the U.S. I’m sure that some reader in the U.K. will get a kick out of this one. Even if you don’t know the original you can still enjoy this great funky version of it.

When I was a child I would go to family parties where my uncle would haul out his accordion and regale us with horrible oom-pah music. It took many years for me to recover from the trauma and realize that the accordion can be a pretty cool instrument in the right hands.

Blackstrap “St. James Infirmary Blues” (Traditional)
A very old-timey feel to this old folk tune. It comes to us from a wonderful compilation of “deviant twang” music on Warning Sign Records called Someday Coming Down.

They Might Be Giants “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” (The Four Lads)
A lot of people don’t know that this is a cover. It took me awhile to find out. Even if you’ve heard it before it’s still a fun klezmer/accordion dance tune.

Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band “Rockin’ Robin” (Bobby Day)
Something about this song makes me feel like it’s early in the morning and I’m in a dark, sweaty, smoky bar. Probably because that’s the only time I ever hear a band play it live.

This tune has some great interaction between the accordion and the saxophone.

Flaco Jimenez and Dwight Yokam “Carmelita” (Warren Zevon)
Flaco Jimenez is widely regarded as the Jimi Hendrix of Tex-Mex accordion. Here he pairs up with Dwight Yokam of all people for a song about being strung out on heroin.

Mr. Yokam makes one small change to the original lyrics. Warren Zevon sang about pawning his Smith Corona to pay for heroin. Yokam sings about pawning his Smith And Wesson, I guess to seem more “country.” The problem is there’s a later line about playing solitaire with a “pearl handled deck.” Which makes sense if you pawned your typewriter. But how could you be playing with your gun if you already pawned it like Yokam did?

Myron Floren “Beer Barrel Polka” (Traditional)
I know what you’re thinking, more horrible oom-pah music from Lawrence Welk’s bandleader. But it’s more than that. Much More. It’s Disco Accordion! Seriously.

Now I can die a happy man, I’ve finally found a song that combines the cheesy syncopation of polka with a thuddng disco beat. Back in the day everybody put out a disco album, even Ethel Merman.

The broad term “Country and Western” encompasses a very wide variety of music. You’ve got your bluegrass, your waltzes, your Western Swing. Here are a few examples.

Vernon Tonges and the Inepti “Slow Poke” (Pee Wee King)
Every year cartoonist Heather McAdams puts out her Country Calendar. It celebrates country and western artists famous and obscure. Every December she and her husband Chris Ligon put on a show to promote the calendar. Chris and Heather’s Country Calendar Show is a Chicago legend. They invite their many musician friends to each play a few songs from the artists featured on the calendar. This recording is from one of those shows.

I know that Chris really likes Vernon Tonges. He’s told me so more than once. Most of the people I know who have seen Vernon play live refer to him as “the fat guy who shouts.” But his style works well on this little ditty.

The Meat Purveyors “Round And Round” (Ratt)
The Meat Purveyors were a great live band. Their shows always featured a killer cover or two, along with original songs about getting wired on trucker speed.

Danny Barnes “Sympathy For The Devil” (Rolling Stones)
The former banjo/guitar player for the Bad Livers is still recording and performing, bless his heart. I think that’s the Devil on fiddle.

Sally Timms “Cry, Cry, Cry” (Johnny Cash)
It’s just not possible to do a collection of country covers without at least one Johnny Cash song. Here Sally Timms makes a radical departure from her work with the Mekons to lend her glorious voice to a charming waltz. This is from an album she claims never to listen to called Cowboy Sally’s Twilight Laments.

The Handsome Family “Faraway Eyes” (Rolling Stones)
A second Stones song, but this is their country song.

The Handsome Family is the husband and wife team of Brett and Rennie Sparks. They usually play happy-sounding country and folk songs about mayhem, death and insanity so this is a change of pace for them. Brett has one of the best baritone voices this side of Johnny Cash.