"For Once In My Life" was not written by Stevie Wonder, but once he recorded it, he seemed to own it. On this mix from a few years ago, I have him singing it both in Spanish and also live in concert as well as an instrumental version by original Motown backing band The Funk Brothers and a great take by Jackie Wilson.
A couple other songs are featured in duplicate on this mix. First, The Replacements' anthemic "Bastards of Young" covered by Pork With Hammel On Trial. And Kylie Minogue's bouncy "Can't Get You Out Of My Head", given a somber but surprisingly moving treatment by The Flaming Lips.
Other stuff: Arrested Development's spiritual "Tennessee", Bobby Womack's Hendrix-inflected cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower", Creedence Clearwater Revival's cover of Ray Charles' "Night Time Is The Right Time", KMD's relentless "Black Bastards & Bitches", T. Rex's punchy "Jewel", Material Issue's poppy "Valerie Loves Me", Raekwon's hypnotic "Ice Water", the finger-wagging "Zealots" by The Fugees, a mash up of Bob Marley's "Johnny Was" with The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Suicicdal Thoughts" called "Hold Your Head", the innocent "Terry" by Twinkle, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' hopeful "Here Comes My Girl", Etta James' lovely "Prisoner Of Love", Rickie Lee Jones' jazzy cover of Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man", and the equally jazzy as well as witty "Murder By Numbers" by The Police.
