Listen To The NYT’s Wesley Morris Go Deep On His List For 885 Greatest Cover Songs

We know from previous year-end countdowns that Philly native and New York Times cultural critic Wesley Morris loves our tradition of year-end countdowns. But we were extra delighted when we woke up this morning to hear that on the newest episode of his podcast, Cannonball with Wesley Morris, he uses our upcoming countdown of 885 Greatest Cover Songs as a jumping off point. In fact, he starts with his own top 10 list: 

10. “Always On My Mind” — The Pet Shop Boys covering Willie Nelson
9. “Hazy Shade Of Winter” — The Bangles covering Simon & Garfunkel
8. “I’m Every Woman” — Whitney Houston covering Chaka Khan
7. “Wuthering Heights” — Cécile McLorin-Salvant covering Kate Bush
6. “Lately” — Jodeci covering Stevie Wonder
5. “I Feel For You” — Chaka Khan covering Prince
4. “Come Together” — Ike & Tina Turner covering The Beatles
3. “We Can Work It Out” — Stevie Wonder covering The Beatles
2. “Gloria” — Patti Smith covering Them 
1. “Respect” — Aretha Franklin covering Otis Redding

Entitled “Where Have All The Covers Gone?” (answer: they’re in our Slacks and emails and we have them all back to you on Dec. 4) Morris and his guest, Grammy Award-winning jazz singer Cécile McLorin-Salvant pick apart, in the most fun and thoughtful ways possible, just what it means when one artist takes on the work of another. They get deep in the weeds of the question, too, highlighting the differences between standards, covers and interpolation, the politics and morality of covers, and so much more. We don’t want to spoil it more than that for you though, because it’s such a great listen. If you’ve got Cover Fever the way we do, it’s must-listen content.

Listen to the podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.