"Don't You Evah" (Spoon)

"Don't You Evah" from Spoon's 2007 album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is one of those songs that doesn't seem like anything particularly special the first time you hear it.  Then you catch it again on the radio while vacuuming fast food debris out of your car or over the speakers while waiting in line at the ubiquitous green mermaid for your daily dose of caffeine, and it suddenly hits you how perfect it is in its straightforward, rocking simplicity.  
For the longest time, I didn't realize the song was a cover/reinterpretation of "Don't You Ever" by defunct NY band The Natural History.  Britt Daniel's lyrics are a little different from the original, but the theme is the same: it's a guy talking to a buddy who is bound for the altar, and he's trying to get the friend to reconsider not only marriage but the whole relationship.  
Apart from the lyrics, the biggest difference between the two songs is that Spoon sheds the jam band vibe of the original and takes it squarely into New Wave territory.  Spoon's rhythm section is bouncier and more buoyant with its thuds of bass guitar and perfectly-placed compressed handclaps.  In fact, it's careful touches like the percussion and blips of studio chatter that propel it past the original into greatness.