My research project was on the comparison between an original song and a cover song. I thought it was really funny how there are so many covers of songs yet when I was going to write this paper my mind went blank and couldn’t think of any worth writing about.
The song I came up with was the song fast car
originally written by Tracy Chapman and I did and I compared it to the Boyce Avenue duet version. I chose this song because it’s been one of my favorites for a long time and it’s amazing how even by using the same words just changes in the pace town in music our song can change so much.
Cover: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bW8ahWjRmFA
Original: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx_xTTlM-d8
However, on a larger scale there are so many other covers that the lyrics don’t change, yet it sounds like a different song when another singer sings it. A song that comes to mind here is the song Landslide originally sung by Stevie Nicks and covered by the Dixie chicks. Although in this case the words differ a little bit but not enough to change the song. The Stevie Nicks version sounds slower, her voice is raspy and her tone has a lot of emotion. The Dixie chicks version sounds different because it provides a country version of the song, thus The tempo is more upbeat and sounds more modern than the original version.
Cover:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J4_wXPZ1Bnk
Original:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lMrYIRNXxS4
Another song that has been widely covered many times is the song I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You by Elvis Presley. My sister danced to this at her wedding and it was in a girl version and it didn’t even sound that similar to the original, though the words were the same. Over the years people have covered it and made it more modern or faster or had different singers etc.
Original: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vGJTaP6anOU
Cover: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9mXbDvvVKmU
Honestly I could give hundreds of more examples I just think it’s interesting that there are covers that don’t do not change the lyrics but still sound completely different. It takes hard work to rework a song as your own, however, it’s even harder to do without changing the lyrics.
Fun list of covers!
ReplyDeleteMy sister also danced to "Can't Help Falling in Love" at her wedding, but it was the Elvis version. My brother-in-law is a HUGE Elvis fan.
The Chicks' version of "Landslide" is so great. Sigh!
By the way, Tracy Chapman does a cover of "Stand By Me" that I love more than the original. It is so moving!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSzJ3aMHErc
The concept you brought up about having the same lyrics, but a different sound in a cover really brought to mind just how much context matters in understanding why an artist chooses to cover that specific song and who their audience is.
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