Mp3: Bettye LaVette covers Neil Young's "Heart of Gold"

One of the things that keeps us watching American Idol is that it's one of the few places -- besides random teenagers' blogs -- where you can hear people fucking with the real American songbook, the one that reaches from cheesy Heart ballads to weird Leonard Cohen songs that suddenly become bigger hits than when Jeff Buckley covered 'em.

And then every once in an even longer while you get to hear something that'll blow the top of your head off, like legendary Detroit soul queen Bettye LaVette covering "Heart of Gold." As Simon would say, "Great song choice." Risky. Powerful. Unforgettable. Could be a hit on the radio today if they still played hits. 

It's not as if she hasn't done this before -- when she played the Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" at the Kennedy Center, Barbara Streissand leaned over to Pete Townshend and asked him if he really wrote it. Bettye tends to have that effect on a song.

Backstory on this is that Anti- is leaking it to the blogs straight from a live set she played at Joe's Pub accompanied only by a pianist -- and if the set sounded anything like this, it'd be a no-brainer for a live record at some point. In the meantime, it's just another great day on teh internets. 

DOWNLOAD: Bettye LaVette, "Heart of Gold (Neil Young cover, Live at Joe's Pub)" [mp3]