Cover version

(Redirected from Cover song)

In pop music a cover version is a new rendition of a previously recorded song. Pop musicians may play covers as a tribute to the original performer or group, to win audiences who like to hear a familiar song, or to increase their chance of success by using a proven hit or to gain credibility by its comparison with the original song. Covering material is an important method in learning various styles of music. Bands may also perform covers for the simple pleasure of playing a familiar song.

1 Early cover versions and the origin of the term
2 Modern cover versions
3 Contemporising older songs
4 Introduction of new artists
5 Tributes, tribute albums and cover albums
- 5.1 Cover bands and tribute bands
6 Most covered songs
7 Covers in particular genres
8 Samples
9 See also
10 External links

[edit]

Early cover versions and the origin of the term

From early in the 20th century it was common practice among phonograph record labels that if any company had a record that was a significant commercial success, other record companies would have singers or musicians "cover" the tune by recording a version for their own label in hopes of cashing in on the tune's success. Since there was little promotion or advertising involved, when the average record buyer went out to purchase a new record, they usually asked for the song, not the artist; additionally, distribution of records was highly localized so a quickly-recorded version of a hit song from another area could hit the streets before the original was available, and the highly-competetive record companies were quick to take advantage of these facts.

This began to change in the later 1930s, when the average age of the record-buying public began to drop. During the Swing Era, when the bobby soxer went looking for "In the Mood", she wanted the popular Glenn Miller version, not someone else's. However, record companies still continued to record different versions of songs that sold well.

In the early days of rock and roll, many songs originally recorded by African American musicians on race music labels were re-recorded by white artists, such as Pat Boone and Ricky Nelson, in a more toned-down style that lacked the hard edge of rock and roll, and vice versa. These bowdlerized cover versions were considered by some to be more palatable to parents, and white artists were more acceptable to programmers at white radio stations. Songs by the original artists which were then successful are called crossovers as they "crossed over" from a black to a white audience. Also, many songs originally recorded by male artists were rerecorded by female artists, and vice versa. Such a cover version is sometimes called a cross cover version .

While it is all but impossible to trace the actual history of the term "cover version," it is likely the term began to be used by record collectors once the early rock'n'roll records had become collectible. The actual term "cover" may have its origins in the fact that the artist who recorded the newer version of the song would have his records literally "cover" the original version... if, indeed, it was available in most record stores.

[edit]

Modern cover versions

Over the years, cover versions of many popular songs have been recorded, sometimes with a radically different style, and in other cases the cover version is virtually indistinguishable from the original. For example, Jose Feliciano's version of "Light My Fire" was utterly distinct from the original version by The Doors; but Carl Carlton's 1974 cover of Robert Knight's 1967 hit single song "Everlasting Love" sounds almost identical to the original.

Cover versions can also be in different languages; for example, Falco's 1982 German-language hit "Der Kommissar" was covered in English by After the Fire later in the decade, although the German title was retained. The English version, which was not a direct translation of Falco's original but retained much of its spirit, reached the Top 5 on the US charts.

Although modern cover versions are often produced for artistic reasons, some aspects of the disingenuous spirit of early cover versions remain. In the album-buying heyday of the 1970s albums of sound-alike covers were created, commonly released to fill bargain bins in the music section of supermarkets and even specialized music stores, where uninformed customers might easily confuse them with original recordings (especially since the packaging of such discs was often intentionally confusing, sometimes combining the name of the original artist, written in large letters, with a tiny disclaimer like as originally sung by or as made popular by). More recently, albums such as the Kidz Bop series of Compact discs, featuring sometimes cleaned-up versions of contemporary songs sung by children, have been sales successes.

[edit]

Contemporising older songs

Cover versions are often used as a method of making a familiar song contemporary. For example "Singin' In The Rain" was originally introduced in the film The Hollywood Revue of 1929. The famous Gene Kelly version was a revision that brought it up to date for a 1950s Hollywood musical, and was used in the 1952 film of the same name. In 1978 it was covered by French singer Sheila accompanied by the B. Devotion group, as a disco song, once more updating it to suit the musical taste of the era. During the disco era there was a brief trend towards taking well known songs and recording them in the disco style. Director Baz Luhrmann has contemporised and stylised older songs for use in his films. New or cover versions such as John Paul Young's "Love Is In The Air" in Strictly Ballroom, Candi Staton's "Young Hearts Run Free" in Romeo and Juliet, and adaptations of artists such as Nat King Cole, Nirvana, Kiss, Thelma Houston, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna and T Rex in Moulin Rouge!, were designed to fit into the structure of each film, and to suit the taste of the contemporary audience for which they were made.

[edit]

Introduction of new artists

New artists are often introduced to the record buying public with performances of well known, "safe" songs as evidenced in Pop Idol and its international counterparts.

[edit]

Tributes, tribute albums and cover albums

Established artists often pay homage to artists or songs that inspired them before they started their careers by recording cover versions, or perform unrecorded cover versions in their live performances for variety. For example U2 have performed ABBA's Dancing Queen live, and Kylie Minogue has performed The Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" - songs that would be completely out of character for them to record, but which allow them artistic freedom when performing live. These performances are often released as part of authorised "live recordings" and thus become legitimate cover versions.

In recent years unrelated contemporary artists have contributed individual cover versions to tribute albums for well established artists who are considered to be influential and inspiring. Each project has resulted in a collection of the particular artist's best recognised or most highly regarded songs reworked by more current performers. Among the artists to receive this form of recognition are ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, The Carpenters, Dolly Parton, Leonard Cohen, Elton John, Duran Duran, Carole King and Led Zeppelin. The soundtrack to the film I Am Sam was a particularly popular example of this; it consisted of Beatles songs redone by various modern artists. Three more notable example is Conception: The Interpretation of Stevie Wonder Songs, which is an album consisting primarily of covers of songs originally recorded by Stevie Wonder and also the "Common Thread" album which many contemporary country artists cover songs that were originally hit singles by The Eagles, and the Rhythm, Country and Blues album where a country artist duets with a Rhythm and blues artist covering either a country music standard or a rhythm and blues music standard.

An different type of all-covers album occurs when one artist creates a release of covers of songs originally by many other artists, as a way to recognize their influences or simply as a change of pace or direction. Examples of this type of album include Renegades by Rage Against The Machine featuring covers of songs originally performed by diverse artists including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Afrikaa Bambaataa, and Erik B and Rakim, as well as the EP Feedback by Canadian rock band Rush. More rarely, bands will do an entire album of cover songs originally by a particular artist, such as The The's Hanky Panky, which consists entirely of Hank Williams songs.

There are also bands who create entire albums out of covers, but unlike Tin Pan Alley-style traditional pop singers, they often perform the songs in a genre completely unlike the original songs. Examples include the Moog Cookbook (alternative and classic rock songs done on Moog synthesizers), Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine (top 40, including punk, heavy metal, teen pop and indie rock performed in a Vegas lounge lizard style), and Hayseed Dixie (a play on the name AC/DC, they started covering AC/DC songs and progressed to other classic rock, playing them as bluegrass songs, similar to The Gourds' version of "Gin and Juice.") Also notable are Nine Inch Elvis, who take Elvis Presley songs and rework them in an industrial fashion similar to Nine Inch Nails, and Beatallica, who perform tracks by The Beatles in the style of Metallica.

[edit]

Cover bands and tribute bands

Main article: cover band, tribute band

Many artists are cover bands, bands which only perform covers. Some recording bands may lack the songwriting skills (nor have access to independent songwriters) to write their own songs, and thus do covers as a result. Other cover bands include wedding singers and other musicians-for-hire who are in the business of playing whatever music they are asked to by their customer(s).

Similarly, covers are often a staple of amatuer or semi-professional garage bands or other informal musical groups, the members of which typically learn their parts individually from recordings, often by ear.

Some artists become the subject of tribute bands. A tribute band is a band dedicated to recreating the performances of another artist or group, often as a form or tribute to the original band. Notable artists to be the subject of tribute bands include The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Rush, and Neil Diamond.

[edit]

Most covered songs

The Beatles have been covered more than any other band; "Yesterday" has been covered over three thousand times since its original release in 1965. George Gershwin's "Summertime" (from Porgy and Bess) has had an estimated 2,500 versions recorded. Other songs which have been released many times as cover versions include the infamous "Louie Louie" by Richard Berry, "We Will Rock You" (Queen), "Free Bird" (Lynyrd Skynyrd), "No Woman No Cry" (Bob Marley & the Wailers) and many of the less recent works of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen (as of December 5, 2004, there were at least 940 published cover versions of Cohen songs [1]).

[edit]

Covers in particular genres

[edit]

Punk

Punk music is known for deconstructing classic rock or pop songs by reinterpreting them in punk form. Bands like Me First & the Gimme Gimmes, Rancid, NOFX and Goldfinger are especially known for doing so.

An extreme example of punk cover versions is the punk band GABBA, who mix the songs of ABBA and The Ramones.

[edit]

Hip-Hop

In recent years, several jam bands and related groups have begun covering hip hop songs, most frequently only live in concert. Perhaps the most famous such-cover recorded in a studio and released commercially is a bluegrass version of "Gin and Juice" by Snoop Doggy Dogg, as performed by the Gourds. Other artists like Phish and Keller Williams have covered "Rappers Delight" (The Sugarhill Gang), "Baby Got Back" (Sir Mix-A-Lot) and other hip hop songs.

[edit]

Swamp pop

A type of cover version that existed from the early 1950s to the late 1970s in Louisiana was known as swamp pop. Contemporary and classic rock, R&B, and country songs were re-recorded with Cajun audiences in mind. Some lyrics were translated to French, and some were recorded with traditional Cajun instrumentation. Several swamp pop songs charted nationally, but it was mostly a regional niche market.

[edit]