So I’m back after a bit of a bloggy break.

Life went a little hectic all ’round and the blog (and sleep and healthy eating and reasonable caffeine intake) went on the back-burner for a bit.

But I’ve had a few good nights’ sleep (no thanks to YOU Daylight Savings!) and I’m so glad I resurfaced in time for this week’s Twisted Mixed Tape because this week Jen is asking us for our favourite covers.

Please check out what other tributes those on the hop enjoy here:

I’ve been musing on this topic off and on since I saw it posted as one of the “up and coming themes” because there are quite a few covers I really enjoy.

Here’s five I haven’t posted before:

1.  Tesla – Signs (1990)

So this song is from Tesla’s 1990 Five Man Acoustical Jam which is the only album I’ve ever owned from this band, but I know EVERY song.

Signs brings me back to swim team bus trips to “away” competitions when I was 12.  Our coach at the time played guitar, which I thought was just the coolest thing ever.  He was even part of a band (called Billy and the Bongos – ’twas a memorable name) and he use to bring his guitar on trips and play for us to pass the time.  This was one of the songs he always played and so I will forever associate it with swimming, and bus trips, and love for acoustic guitars and singalongs.

I bought this album the following year and didn’t realize Signs was a cover until years later.  It was later still that I realized it was a cover of, not only a Canadian band, but an Ottawa band.  How’s that for local flavour?  The Five Man Electrical Band first made it a hit in the 1971.  But I will forever love the Tesla version best.

2.  Guns ‘n’ Roses – Live and Let Die (1991)

Use Your Illusion (this was on #1) hit big my first year of high school and I dutifully fell in love with all things Guns ‘n Roses.  And I mean love in that odd way that I still find the combination of kilts, spandex, wailing and insane aerobic ability oddly appealing.  But in seriousness, my love for G’n’R is so big I can almost forgive them for the Spaghetti Incident?

In any event, I own all they’ve done, made it through a few unauthorized bios, and never change the channel when the radio graces me with one of their songs.  This is the cover of the theme song from the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die.  The original was written by Paul and Linda McCartney, and performed by Paul McCartney and his band Wings.  I like this version better.

3.  Johnny Cash – Personal Jesus (2002)

Okay, so I couldn’t very well get through this post without adding a Depeche Mode Personal Jesus cover.  I have a collection of them.  I posted my favourite one earlier this year when I posted my favourite running tracks.  This one runs a close second.  I love what Johnny Cash did remaking this into an acoustic version.

4.  The Sundays – Wild Horses (1992)

So I could try to sell you right now on my love of early ’90s British female alternative rock bands, but instead I thought I’d show you this Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan compilation video of Buffy and Angel making out/having unrequited love angst and drama interspersed with wedding fantasies for four minutes to my next choice of the evening.

Because that’s where I first noticed this cover of the Rolling Stone’s Wild Horses (originally from their 1971 Sticky Fingers Album).  It featured in the end of Season Three in the episode The Prom (which has a whole Wikipedia page dedicated to it….).

While, sure, I’m a fan of the show, I ADORE this cover of the song.  I love the softness a female voice brings to this classic.  My husband and I used this version for the first dance at our wedding.

5.  Fiona Apple – Across the Universe (1998)

So this cover of the classic 1969 Beatles tune appeared on the Soundtrack to 1998’s Pleasantville.  I own and love the movie.  And I love this cover of Across the Universe pretty much for the same reason as I love the Sundays cover of Wild Horses.  I love what a female voice does to change the feel of the song.  It lilts along in this beautiful, pleasant, lazy kind of way and brings you along for the ride.  This song made my playlist during my first maternity leave and I used it to dance my eldest to sleep at all hours of the night when she was less than two-months-old.  For me, it now brings back those fuzzy memories of early motherhood.

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There are many other covers I would have loved to include, but I am a stickler for the rules, and Jen asks for five and I always do try to comply unless I am REALLY torn.

What covers do you love?  Do you love them in part because you associate them with memories or specific times in your life?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments!