The Impact Of Singing Covers On The Careers Of Performers
The original premise of this post1 was that singing cover songs can have a positive or negative impact on a professional performer’s career. There were also quite a few linguistic ruffles and flourishes, a handful of modifiers, some dependent clauses, and a semicolon or two, but that, along with a rather formulaic concept describing exactly how performing cover versions could boost or suppress ones career, was the basic idea.
And, it may be accurate. The problem is that the term, “covers,” – uh – covers so much musical territory that finding examples to support nearly any idea is easy – approximately as easy as finding examples to dispute that same notion.
I’ll explain.
The most common definitions of a cover song (AKA cover version or cover) are compatible with that provided by Wikipedia: A new rendition (performance or recording) of a previously recorded, commercially released song. So, covers may be sung as a tribute by colleagues or admirers of the original artist, as a confrontation or a means of ridicule by bitter rivals, or as just another number by singers who may know nothing about the original performer.
Singers may do covers of songs only recently sung for the first time or songs that were first performed decades ago. A cover may sound identical to the original or may be difficult to recognize as the same song. Songs originally sung by an individual male performer may be covered by a girl group. A sultry jazz number may be picked up with few changes by another jazz vocalist – or it may become a rowdy, raucous country-western dance number. A romantic ballad may make the transition into a novelty tune ridiculing romance.
For many years, covers were a means by which songs by black artists became transposed by white singers into fare deemed acceptable to white audiences.
Tempo, arrangements, and lyrics may be changed. Words may be transformed to bowdlerize the piece for family-safe airplay. A shift in the gender of the singers may or may not be accompanied by a shift in pronoun gender. And, of course, words are changed when translated into other languages.
Fledgling singers cover the popular songs of the masters, and well known performers sing songs by obscure artists.
Covers may rival or even eclipse the popularity of the first version of the song produced.
Some performers were best known for their covers at the beginning of their careers and gradually moved on to their own material, others have integrated covers and original material into their repertoire, and still others have segmented their work, producing some albums of their own songs and other albums of covers. have started their career Some singers and bands perform covers exclusively; some perform covers of only one artist
Covers of individual songs and entire albums of covers are now so common, at least among contemporary pop singers, that finding artists who never perform the works of others can be difficult.
Get the idea?
Consequently, even the simplest expression of my original premise – being perceived primarily as a performer of original work (especially in the case of a singer-songwriter) Vs an interpreter of the works of others has a direct impact on the popularity and reputation of a singer – is less a proven axiom than a provocative proposition.
The basic question becomes
Do conventions of Elvis impersonators, Jeff Buckley singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” the local Jimmy Buffet tribute band playing Fox River honky-tonks, The Who performing “Summertime Blues,” Here rendering a squeaky version of “Lay Lady Lay,” which is actually an embarrassingly poor cover of Ministry’s inept cover of Dylan’s original song, Ike and Tina Turner exponentially improving on The Band’s own competent but now bland version of “Proud Mary,” AbbaDabbaDoo, who inform us they “are one of the finest of the UK’s tribute bands,” serenading newly weds at their reception with ABBA hits, or, for that matter, Uncle Foster, ever since seeing My Best Friend’s Wedding, inevitably covering “I Say A Little Prayer” at every karaoke bar and family gathering share sufficient musical performance DNA to belong to the same species?
I think not.
At least, I don’t think all of those performers are similar enough to allow logically coherent, intellectually honest conclusions to be drawn as long as that definition of cover song is operational.
The over-inclusion of cases falling into the class of “cover songs” may also explain, in part the widespread but not universal contention expressed in music reviews in print and on the internet that covers may be fun, interesting, and popular as well as useful exercises for the performers, but in terms of quality and authenticity they fall short of singers performing original work.
Consider this paragraph which introduces a list of the 20 Worst Covers:
Covering other people’s material is a mainstay in pop music. Why bother taking the time to write an original song when you can just recycle somebody else’s hit, redo it with an acoustic guitar (or, if it’s an acoustic song, with an electric guitar) and generate the same result? But it doesn’t always work out as planned, especially if you don’t bother to figure out what made the original song popular in the first place (or in the case of our #1 choice, even bother to learn the damn lyrics first). Below, 20 great songs that received sound butcherings by artists who should’ve known better. A lot better.
These realizations will not, of course, prevent me charging ahead in keeping with my 8th Grade Class Motto: Onward Ever; Backward Never.2
My goal is not the construction of a new definition of “cover song.” Future posts on these points will be less ruminative and will not indulge in legalistic parsing of terminology. I just couldn’t find a way to discuss my interest in the effects of repertoire choices on ones musical career without first outlining the problem with thinking of “cover songs” as a homogeneous group.
Allison Crowe Is Up Next
Let me make up for this lack of fun and entertainment in today’s post with the advance notice that next week’s continuation of this theme will feature thoughts on this issue by the impressively talented and incredibly indulgent Allison Crowe, a woman who knows a bit about being a singer-songwriter with a raft original songs who sometimes chooses to perform a cover.
As a teaser, here’s an example of her covering a ditty by that Cohen fellow, who seems quite the rage these days:
Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah performed by Allison Crowe
Bonus: A Covers Hit (& Miss) List
14 cover songs that are better than the originals
This song’s even better than the original
When cover songs go really, really bad
The 20 Worst Cover Songs in Pop Music History
Cover Songs Databases
The Covers Project
Legalities
How to Legally Sell Downloads of Cover Songs
- Note: This post has been rewritten a half-dozen times with only the title surviving in its original form. Further, I’m not convinced the title still fits the post but it does have the right pseudo-scholarly ring to it and using it allows me to maintain the illusion that at least I didn’t have to start over from scratch. Besides, if I revise the title, I may succumb to the temptation of already overused “cover” puns: “under cover,” “coverage,” “cover me,” “give me cover,” “cover charge,” … . This post could have been published a week ago with a sixth of the effort if I hadn’t tried to show off by supporting my hypothesis (calling it an “hypothesis” was another mistake) with facts and documentation. I know – what was I thinking? I betrayed the fundamental principle of musical bloggerology: Thou shalt honor only thy immediate instinctual perception of any issue, holding it forever sacred and unchanged. By no means shalt thou assess the validity of the biases, prejudices, misconceptions, misunderstandings, and ignorance upon which that perception was formed, seek out objective evidence by which to evaluate that immediate instinctual perception, or otherwise test, acknowledge exceptions to, or modulate that perception. I’m sorry and won’t let it happen again. [↩]
- Even now, I don’t know why the redundant “Backward Never” was appended to the perfectly adequate and complete “Onward Ever” or, on the other hand, why further needless clarifications (e.g., Nor Will There Be Any Movement Perpendicular To The Original Forward Vector) were not tacked on. [↩]
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