“Cover Me” – Opposites Attract Mixtape Challenge

This month’s mixtape challenge theme was set out by @ThomHoops and a challenge it was. The rules set out were as follows:

“…a dozen songs that convey the idea of opposites working together in maybe, perfect harmony. Maybe not.

Of course this can be interpreted in several ways which has been the beauty of the previous four themes. Whether it is Michael Jackson – Black and White, 6 x opposing couplets, pairs of songs that are musically opposed, artists that are contrasts of each other, we can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

At first I thought this was going to be far too difficult. My first thought was looking for duets where the two acts were fairly ‘opposite’ – Tom Waits/Bette Midler being a good example – but that river was dry. Then I thought I’d try a fairly well trodden path of the ‘cover version’ but looking at songs where the cover was pretty different from the original and also, where possible, the acts themselves could be thought of as ‘opposites’. And so I started a twelve song list with that theme running throughout.

Mixtape Challenge – Animals

So this months mixtape challenge theme is ‘Animals’ which is fairly broad to say the least. The obvious idea was to go for a list of songs that are awesome with animals in the title. But there was still so much more that could be done… As @gemstgem points out this list could take you down any path:

So your mix can be:

• Songs about animals or with the names of animals in them
• Songs by bands with animals in their name
• Songs related to animals
• A list of songs about one particular animal
• Or go conceptual and come up with your own (animal-related) version…

After reeling off a few songs with animals in the title, I decided to try and stick to a theme. Then it dawned on me… What links the number 12 (songs) and animals? Why the Chinese Zodiac of course! So, with that as a theme, so follows my choices – there were a few variations on this theme owing to ‘problems with English translation‘ and being unable to find a suitable song but here goes.