What does the word "cover" mean to you?

[greenie44]

For me a cover is a new recording/performance of a song originally recorded/performed by someone else. In my mind it should be a pretty faithful rendition of the original but it can vary to reflect the aesthetic of the person doing the cover. If it does vary it should still be readily identifiable as the original song.

For me, that is a performance. A cover is when someone adds something that wasn't there in the original performance. As you can probably guess, I don't try to recreate what was there originally, necessarily, note for note. (One of my dear friends once commented, after I had played my heart out on a song, "You know that isn't how it goes, right?") But different strokes for different folks.

 

[mikelz777]

For me, that is a performance. A cover is when someone adds something that wasn't there in the original performance. As you can probably guess, I don't try to recreate what was there originally, necessarily, note for note. (One of my dear friends once commented, after I had played my heart out on a song, "You know that isn't how it goes, right?") But different strokes for different folks.

I'm afraid I would probably be more like your friend. It reminds me of a time at a uke gathering when someone brought in a song I knew and that I liked so I was looking forward to singing and playing it. Since they brought the song they lead the group but they were singing the melody wrong. (And not in a way that improved the song.) I sang a bit louder hoping to get them on track but they continued to sing it wrong. I didn't say anything but I'm of a personality type that likes order, accuracy and following the rules so it was driving me nuts. Where it differs from your story is that I'm pretty sure the inaccurate singing of the melody was most likely from having learned it wrong or remembering it wrong and not a conscious artistic choice.

When does a song move from a performance to a cover to a reinterpretation? Take the following example comparing Joni Mitchell's performance of her song "Both Sides Now" with Dave Van Ronk's version. Van Ronk's version is still pretty recognizable as the same song but it is certainly different from Mitchell's. Is it just a performance, a cover or a reinterpretation? (I'd call it a cover. I love both versions. I "hear" Joni's version, I "feel" Van Ronk's version.)





(Mitchell said that she loved his version of the song as it really captured the mood/emotion/sentiment she was going for in the lyrics. Her performance is almost sunny in comparison.)

 

[Wiggy]

* Backhand slang to suggest low originality

Thus the reason I use the phrase "my arrangement of" in attempt to make the song "mine."

 

[Stoneyrun]

Two of my favorite "cover" songs...

 

[clear]

Performed as close to whatever version I think the song should should sound like.

 

[Renaissance-Man]

Two of my favorite "cover" songs...

I know (hope) you don't mean it this way, but Belushi imitating Cocker was disrespectful on SNL, and it's worse now that we as a people are honing our conscience.

 

[Arcy]

I know (hope) you don't mean it this way, but Belushi imitating Cocker was disrespectful on SNL, and it's worse now that we as a people are honing our conscience.

How was it inappropriate? Belushi wasn't punching down, he killed the performance, and Cocker wasn't offended by it - he came back and they did a duet the next season

Take the following example comparing Joni Mitchell's performance of her song "Both Sides Now" with Dave Van Ronk's version. Van Ronk's version is still pretty recognizable as the same song but it is certainly different from Mitchell's. Is it just a performance, a cover or a reinterpretation? (I'd call it a cover. I love both versions. I "hear" Joni's version, I "feel" Van Ronk's version.)

I'd say all three. A interesting question is Judy Collins' version: it was the first commercial release of the song, a year before Mitchell released her own version, and it won a grammy.

Is Collins' version a cover? Is anything not performed by the songwriter a cover? Does that change if the songwriter also performs it?

 

[Stoneyrun]

I know (hope) you don't mean it this way, but Belushi imitating Cocker was disrespectful on SNL, and it's worse now that we as a people are honing our conscience.

Is imitation the highest form of flattery? I don't know. It's my understanding that Joe Cocker enjoyed Belushi's impression and performance. I cannot speak for "we as a people" because I'm only one person. I do think comedy, in general, is an endangered art. Any art form that is restricted, censored, or otherwise filtered from a state of intended being reduces it's creator's ability to communicate through that artistic expression.

 

[Bibs]

Many folks just can't resist saying something before a performance.
Actually, it's probably just an excuse/apology, given in advance, to those that that may not, or don't like something about their performance.

 

[Renaissance-Man]

Is imitation the highest form of flattery? I don't know. It's my understanding that Joe Cocker enjoyed Belushi's impression and performance. I cannot speak for "we as a people" because I'm only one person. I do think comedy, in general, is an endangered art.

I'm sorry. I'll take it down a few notches.
No, my friend, imitation can also be mokery. A book I read from a former SNL writer/performer of that era said it was insulting to Cocker. Belushi later claimed it was rehearsed, and Cocker later claimed he was amused. That's show business.

 

[merlin666]

For me it means that one artist covers the work of another artist. We just signed up to Disney+ and started watching the Beatles documentary. It's quite interesting to see how many covers they were trying out and thinking of including in the concert. It is also a sign of respect and acknowledgment for the original creator of the work.

 

[Stoneyrun]

I'm sorry. I'll take it down a few notches.
No, my friend, imitation can also be mokery. A book I read from a former SNL writer/performer of that era said it was insulting to Cocker. Belushi later claimed it was rehearsed, and Cocker later claimed he was amused. That's show business.

Or, the book publishing business?

 

[mikelz777]

For me it means that one artist covers the work of another artist. We just signed up to Disney+ and started watching the Beatles documentary. It's quite interesting to see how many covers they were trying out and thinking of including in the concert. It is also a sign of respect and acknowledgment for the original creator of the work.

That's what I really like about The Beatles - Live at the BBC, you get to hear them do so many covers. It's a nice taste of what it must have been like hearing them play in Hamburg, Germany or the Cavern Club in their early days.

 

[Brian PacNW]

Just for funsies, here is an awesome cover by Jimmy Fallon pretending to be Neil Young and singing the theme song to Fresh Prince of Bel Air. In another episode, Neil Young himself did a duet of Old Man with Jimmy Fallon, but it seems that one has been removed from Youtube.

 

[merlin666]

It's also notable when covers surpass the original in fame, for example All Along the Watchtower covered by Hendrix.

 

[Kenn2018]

Then there are cases of the cover becoming more well known than the original song writer/performer's version.

A lot of doo wop songs were picked up by groups and became more famous than the original group that first sang the song(s).

Steve Goodman was forever miffed that Arlo Guthrie was often given credit for writing "City of New Orleans." It was covered by a lot of different performers from Willie Nelson to Jimmy Buffet. Sometimes they changed the words to the song, but it was still considered a cover.

Goodman liked the royalties he received from the recordings and performances of his songs by other popular artists.

 

[Jan D]

The acapella group Pentatonix has recorded a large number of what most people would call “covers.”
Pentaholics (and I count myself as one) prefer to call them “upgrades.”

A small taste of their talent - PTX’s “cover” of The Sound of Silence:

 

[mikelz777]

Walk Off The Earth is a group well known for their many inventive covers and you'll find tons of them on YouTube. Here they do a mashup of 20 Beatles songs in 6 minutes. Just putting all that together in a way that works and flows is an incredible talent let alone performing it as they do.

 

[Ziret]

Nothing Compares 2U: Did Sinead O’Connor cover Prince’s song, or did he cover her version of his song? There are hundreds of examples of this—like Crazy, already mentioned.

I think we’ve established that it means performing someone else’s song—until it doesn’t. That was a good question!

 

[greenfrog]

And many great performers such as Emmy Lou Harris, Linda Rhonstad, and Grateful Dead did only/mostly other people’s songs.

I would disagree about the Grateful Dead doing mostly covers. Many of their songs like Dark Star and Eyes of the World were original. They had enough original songs to have a lyricist (John Perry Barlow). Sure, they did covers (often amazing ones), but I wouldn’t say they did mostly covers.

>> So I just wrote some original lyrics for this:


<title> Covered by Horses

Some folks sing songs,
and others perform,
Stories and tunes,
old favourites and new…

I like to play your songs,
and you can do mine,
And together we’ll play,
those others, too…

>> But no, nay, never,
no never you see,
Will I use, the word *cover*,
sounds horrid to me…

Love it!!!