Song Of The Day 11/14/2013: Tori Amos - "'97 Bonnie & Clyde"

Quarterly Covers Report: Tori Amos -- who is, in spirit, this blog's best famous friend -- wasted no time recasting the pungently violent strains of Eminem in her 2001 cover of "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" from The Slim Shady LP. This version was from Amos' covers album Strange Little Girls. It's easily as creepy as Marshall's original, a trait I owe to her calling forth her naturally maternal instincts in playing the part of a homicidal dad. She's also effective because, in contrast to Eminem's persona -- which as you might have heard can sometimes get a little, oh, jumpy -- Tori delivers this song in deliberate restraint, very measured, Stepford reserve. Everyone was up in arms about Eminem at the time, and Tori's carefully plotted, judgment-free version both critiqued and reframed the original. Plus, it makes me unspeakably uncomfortable. I wonder what she would have done with Eminem's even more grotesque "Kim." Or maybe we should just let Barbra Streisand have a go at that one.