I woke up this morning with the intention of featuring a Janet Jackson cover, a continuation of the admittedly lengthy discussion the singer received here via Friday’s post. But with nothing immediately coming to mind, I wondered if Janet should be counted among those artists whose songs haven’t lent themselves to reinterpretation. After all, many of her biggest hits, from “Rhythm Nation” to “All For You,” were built upon samples or feature prominent interpolations of others’ tunes.

Those songs, of course, aren’t true covers either. Time and time again, she and her producers spun something snappy from snippets of something that had come before. But again, that’s artistic creativity at work, not recasting an original in whole from beginning to end.

Doing some digging (thanks, Interweb!), I did find one Janet Jackson cover worth spotlighting here (as I’d posited, barely a handful have been recorded). In 2002, retro-soul/funk band Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings included “What Have You Done For Me Lately” on their debut LP, Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Given the group’s disdain of synthesizers and drum machines, the Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis original is a perfect candidate, and only the song’s lyrics survive the trip to this totally analog world. Rebuilt by Jones and the fellas’ old-school hands, “What Have You Done For Me Lately” is transformed into an organic funky workout:

Purchase Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – “What Have You Done For Me Lately” via iTunes, Amazon MP3. And don’t miss Pt. 2 of the song, released on the Daptone 7 Inch Singles Collection, Vol. 1 (iTunes, Amazon MP3).