The definition of a COVER VERSION – A particular recording of a song is later re-recorded by someone else, in such a way that the new recording brings something new to the meaning of the song or the feelings it invokes. This is a series of posts about striking cover versions of songs.
Here is Part 1 about the nature of cover stories, with various examples – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2023/11/18/cover-stories-part-1-of-6/
Here is Part 2 featuring a dozen particularly good specific cover versions – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2023/11/24/cover-stories-part-2-of-6/
Here is Part 3 featuring a dozen more particularly good specific cover versions – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2023/12/02/cover-stories-part-3-of-6/
Here is Part 4 featuring a final dozen particularly good specific cover versions – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2023/12/09/cover-stories-part-4-of-6/
Here is Part 5 in which a variety of songs which are closely related to the concept of cover versions are discussed – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2023/12/16/cover-stories-part-5-of-6/
In this final post instead of talking about taking a song (lyrics plus music) and adding something new when covering it, the idea of taking just text and adding something new to it by adding music will be examined. The best example of this that I can think of is the dramatic work CARMINA BURANA. The text of this musical work is taken from a set of 254 poems and dramatic texts primarily from the 11th and 12th centuries written in Medieval Latin. In the twentieth century Carl Orff added music. Here is a well-known excerpt from Carmina Burana, a short section called O Fortuna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzvZFnI7Vw8&ab_channel=RTSMuzi%C4%8Dkaprodukcija-Zvani%C4%8Dnikanal . Here is a second, rather unusual performance of the work – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJNp5UKRtbQ&ab_channel=unsereOEBB .
CARMINA BURANA TEXT (THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE)
By Anonymous – http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/bsb00085130/image_5, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=202349
THE WOODLARK by Gerard Manley Hopkins was put to music by Sean O’Leary and recorded by Belinda Evans. HOPE IS A THING WITH FEATHERS by Emily Dickinson was put to music by the band Trailer Bride. OH, ARE YOU DIGGING MY GRAVE? by Thomas Hardy was put to music by Lewis Alpaugh, and THE RAVEN by Edgar Allen Poe was adapted and re-titled Mr. Raven as a rap song by MC Lars. Pablo Neruda’s poems, including SONNET 49, were translated into English, set to music and recorded by Luciana Souza.
RICHARD CORY by Edwin Arlington Robinson was put to music more than once, by Charles Naginski in 1940, by the band Them, and by John Woods Duke. There have also been several songs based on the poem. Perhaps the most famous adaptation was by Paul Simon, recorded by Simon and Garfunkel, but Simon changed the words while retaining the meaning – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vNSWoSWSog&ab_channel=BigChuckLyricVideo
Donovan’s 1971 album HMS Donovan features six poems which Donovan wrote music for. Those six works are as follows: ‘THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER’ and ‘JABBERWOCKY’ both from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Jane Taylor retitled ‘THE STAR’, ‘WYNKEN, BLYNKEN AND NOD’ by Eugene Field, ‘THINGS TO WEAR’ by Agnes Grozier Herbertson, and ‘THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT’ by Edward Lear. Here is Jabberwocky – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ-AGLyMVHM&ab_channel=falkom88
THE JABBERWOCK illustrated by JOHN TENNIEL
By John Tenniel – http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/resources/analysis/poem-origins/jabberwocky/Copied from English Wikipedia., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20137
The poem Pequeno Vals Vienes’ (Little Viennese Waltz) was translated into English, and put to music and recorded by Leonard Cohen under the title ‘TAKE THIS WALTZ’ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQm1OmLMNno&ab_channel=a1000kissesdeep . Irish band The Waterboys, put together an entire show, and album, of music composed to go with poems by William Butler Yeats. For example, they turned ‘THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE’ into a 12-bar blues song. Finally, conductor / composer Christopher Tin took the words to the LORD’S PRAYER, translated them into Sanskrit, and set them to music under the title Baba Yetu – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsINANZ6Riw&ab_channel=AlexBoye .
Sometimes a band or performer has a particular sound and someone else comes along and, either intentionally or accidentally, sound a lot like that earlier band or performer. It was as if they were creating a cover of a general sound rather than a specific song. Three examples:
When Badfinger, a band plagued by tragedy (two of its members committed suicide), were signed to the Beatles’ record company Apple, many perceived the band’s recordings to be very similar to Beatles recordings. Judge for yourself. Here is one of Badfinger’s first recordings and a major hit, COME AND GET IT (by Paul McCartney) from the Peter Sellers movie The Magic Christian also starring Ringo Starr – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tOnbeNAxdU&ab_channel=Beat-Club . When the Bee Gees arrived in the UK from Australia in 1967 few people knew who they were. When they immediately released the track NEW YORK MINING DISASTER 1941 there were some reports that the Bee Gees were really The Beatles recording incognito because of their similar styles at that time. What do you think? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48j8UdBwDS8&ab_channel=Beat-Club . In 1973 progressive Canadian rock band Klaatu’s first album sounded so much like The Beatles at that time that the music media began calling them The Canadian Beatles. Here is their track SUB ROSA SUBWAY – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRKVNRHw8ss&ab_channel=NedNickerson2010
Perhaps Marilyn Monroe’s greatest moment came with her performance of DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND in the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Consider how throughout her career Monroe was objectified as the stereotypical Dumb Blonde when she was in reality very street smart, and, by the way, according to Sir Laurence Olivier himself, Monroe was also a great film actor. Also, consider the meanings of the lyrics. Some would describe the song’s protagonist as an unabashed gold digger. However in a world in which almost all of the world’s wealth is controlled by men, and when opportunities for employment and advancement for women are severely limited, a woman’s economic survival usually depended on snaring a man with money. In Monroe’s day this was the same world as the one that the female characters of Jane Austen’s greatest work, Pride and Prejudice, lived in. Not a lot of progress in 150 years. Consider the title of the song and the title of the film it’s taken from. This is a feminist clip – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw7ii6IxNS8&ab_channel=DanteBentura . Now notice how Madonna adroitly covers the same conceptual territory both visually and musically rather than covering the actual song, in this clip of MATERIAL GIRL – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p-lDYPR2P8&ab_channel=Madonna .
Finally there’s the rather bizarre case of John Fogerty, the leader of the country rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. He was sued for sounding like himself. Let me explain. In 1985 Fogerty released an album which contained the song ‘THE OLD MAN DOWN THE ROAD’ and he was sued for plagarism by his former record company which had released Fogerty’s earlier song ‘RUN THROUGH THE JUNGLE’ when he was with Creedence Clearwater Revival. The claim was that John Fogerty on the former song sounded too much like John Fogerty on the latter song. The record company lost the lawsuit.
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL
By Fantasy Records – eBay itemphoto frontphoto back, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19776032
In the photograph above John Fogerty is on the far right. His brother Tom Fogerty, on the far left, died in 1990 of AIDS at the age of 48.
According to The Kidd 