Define a cover song
Fatback
6,746 Posts
Seriously. I been making these mix tapes of cover songs. "Under the Covers" and I started moving into jazz and, well, everything is a "cover".Is a cover simply defined as a person or group playing a composition that was not written by them? Is a cover different from standard?Plaese to help clarify. I need to be accurate. My shitty reputation depends on it.
Comments
as to what defines a cover i'd go with "not written by the original artist and performed before".
Standards are when the same tune gets played by many different artists. They may cover it faithfully to the og, or reinterpret it. Done enough it becomes a standard. Also 'standard' because you can judge the difference between artists by their interpretation of the same song. I think more of the tin-pan-alley tradition where composers, and songwriters, would sell their composition to lots of artists and create standards.
Somebody also mentioned faithfulness to the original version. I'm thinking of the version of Hurdy Gurdy Man off Sound of Feeling's Spleen--it's essentially reconstructed. But still a cover, right?
Can anyone think of some fundamentally reconstructed covers?
Definitely along those lines. I'm thinking of versions that you don't realize they are covers until midway through the song--if at all.
The Vanilla Fudge: Man, I have tried and tried and tried to like their records. Just don't get it.
Too Late - Isley Brothers
What Have You Done for Me Lately? - Sharon Jones
-De La Soul
put that on your 2007 mix tape.
What about a Tie-dyed t-shirt and cover-alls? ... are you are a gay ass hippy bitch?
cover is only rock n' roll.
jazz covers rock n roll sometimes.
my favorite thangs aint rock n' roll.
My Favorite Thangs is a Jass Standard originally from Broadway 1959 ... regardless of when you 'heard it first' ...
fuckallayawl,
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
Somebody made a stinky.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_song
I :heart: reggae covers
Anything.
At what point does a sample comprise the primary basis for song making it a cover? i.e. Fugees Killing me Softly (a cover--albeit awful--right?) or That Foxy Brown song that uses Carl Carlton or Diddy's Police Song. The last two basically have "rapping" over a version of the song and still uses the chorus.
Also at what point can a reconstructed remix become an actual cover. I'm trying to think of an example? Maybe Z-Trips version of I Want you Back? No, that's a re-edit. Hmmm... stumped
Because I'm recovering from wiki dependence. It's dangerous. Watch out.
Other may disagree, but to me it's not a cover just because it uses a straight forward sample...Guilty Simpson's It's A Man's World has the same title and a pretty straight loop of the JBrown version, but it's still not a cover to me.
I consider Rance Allen's Just My Salvation to be a cover of Just My Imagination.
I believe one of the reasons they called it a "cover version" was so that the new person would "cover up" the original in their own way, as in "I am Pat Boone, and I am going to cover up the fact that a black man did this song, preventing him from having the hit". At least that what I was lead to believe.
as for reconstructions:
I've heard many a version of "Take Five" done in standard 4/4 time signature. Caribbean standard. WTF?
What about M.C. Miker : Celebration Rap? Is that a cover of Celebration or We Are Family? I'd say neither. But then, what about T-Ski Valley - Sexual Rapping?
I :heart: George Mgrdichian's version on The Now Sounds of the Middle East
so over the top...and hilarious
i like this version of Guns of Brixton much better than the Clash's
Totally the most ridiculous late 60s shit ever. They are so into being "heavy" while being so fucking weak. That keyboardist with his left had gestures--I almost fell out laughing.
it's not just the keyboardist though - they are all doing that. it's like they're acting like they just got shot. i can't help but marvel. violently cheesy
Location alert!
is this from that cd of lounge covers of modern rock songs? like pixies, clash, depeche mode, etc? what was that called? a friend of mine played it for me a while back, but I done forgot.
No hi-jack here...but when it comes to the 'Fudge, plaese to check this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA5PzAKNDbg&mode=related&search=
This is the only thing ive ever seen or heard from them that even vaguely held my interest.
Their albums are
Carmine Appice has always kind of creeped me out, too.
He was tellin the drummer to quiet down.
Nah, he was "directing" through those intricate intense melody shifts and time changes.
Forget Vanilla Fudge, Isaac Hayes is the real king of the drastically re-worked cover. "Walk On By", "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", "Do Your Thing", "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", etc. Those are totally new songs when he gets done with them.
Main difference being that Mr. Hayes' versions are good.
Was Whitney Houston's "rendition" of I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU a cover of the Dolly Parton tune?
Were Hugo Montenegro's "renditions" of Ennio Morricone soundtrack tunes covers?
Is the Jimi Hendrix's ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER a cover?
Basically, what Im asking is it still a cover if the cover eclipses the original in terms of popularity?
Does that fit into the equation at all?