It caught my eye that "I'll Stand By You" by Carrie Underwood is the #2 single on iTunes. I clicked on the tune to hear the snippet (I won't buy copy-protected music ever again, but I do like browsing...). Not to be harsh to Carrie Underwood, who has a lovely voice, but c'mon: covering Chrissie Hynde?

... at which point, Larry vapor-locks trying not to make a cheap joke about his adolescence...

... the larger point being that Chrissie Hynde is one of the great female singers, probably the best of the 80s. Admittedly, my list of top female vocalists is not exactly the American Idol pantheon (when are they going to give Patti Smith her due?) but no one can out-plaintive-yearn Chrissie Hynde. It's like trying to out-ring-a-ding-ding Sinatra.

(As I wrote those last sentences, in perfect rebuke, Johnny Cash shuffled onto my playlist. OK: I would have paid huge money for Johnny Cash doing Hymn to Her.)