Cover Songs
Short version: I love ‘em.
Long version: I understand lots of folks disagree, either because of an earnest preference for an artist’s original, “definitive” take or because it’s simply the zeitgeist to thumb their nose at covers by default (and sometimes you’ve got a bit of a venn diagram overlap going on).
And, yes, sometimes it’s just an infatuation rather than a true love affair. Sometimes the newness of the arrangement, the promise of something better mixed with something familiar, creates a slightly dishonest emotional connection in my brain. But who can blame me? Who isn’t taken with something that simultaneously calls back the past while teasing the future?
I look at it like this: the original recording is a starting point, and, no matter how good it is…it can’t possibly “do everything” that the song is capable of. It’s “1.” And 1 may be very good, and already explore a lot of options and possibilities locked within the structure of the melody and the changes. But it’s a launchpad. There are a thousand possibilities for each song, and for someone like me, who has such a hard time finishing my own stuff, this way of thinking is liberating.
Good cover songs show us the unlimited possibilities of music, and how just because you’re adhering to the basic structure of a piece doesn’t mean you have to necessarily take the approach you think you have to take (MAYBE THAT ALSO APPLIES TO LIFE LOLZ BIG PICTURE).
Also, the idea that the first interpretation is the best has always confused me. This doesn’t just apply to others re-imaging an artist’s work, either. Often times when a new song has become an old one, after years of evolving on the road, it takes on a greater focus and brighter shine and provides a more interesting experience than the original one-off track ever could.
And yes, to be fair, there have been plenty of terrible covers of great songs. But I meet too many people who are so infatuated with the idea of being seen as artistically pure that they refuse to admit that an outsider’s re-imagining of somebody else’s art could ever have merit.
To me, the song and the recording are two different beasts, and their individual greatness is often mutually exclusive. Let one’s brilliance feed the other’s inventiveness.
