Cover songs have been around forever – perhaps since the second performer recorded “Happy Birthday To You.”
Back in the Fifties, cover songs took on a certain controversy because so many black musicians saw their original compositions recorded by white artists – often without credit or acclaim. One of the most famous was Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog,” recorded in 1956.
Few know (and count me as one of those who did not) the song was written and recorded four years earlier by Big Mama Thornton. It turned out to be her only hit, spending 14 weeks on the R&B charts the next year.
When Elvis recorded his version, the song went the Fifties equivalent of viral, going on to sell more than 10 million copies. According to Okayplayer’s Abel Shifferaw, “The King’s” cover hit #1 on the pop, country, AND R&B charts simultaneously for 11 weeks.
Here’s the original “Hound Dog” from Big Mama Thornton:
“Hound Dog” was hardly an outlier. Hits like “Louie, Louie” by the Kingsmen were originally recorded by black artists – in that case, Richard Berry. The same is true for Eric Clapton’s “I Shot The Sheriff” (written and recorded first by the great Bob Marley).
Bet you didn’t know Soft Cell’s mega-hit, “Tainted Love,” was recorded by Gloria Jones 20 years earlier. It stiffed.
Covers have never gone out of style, underscored by last year’s most successful cover – “Africa” by Weezer. Most people know Toto wrote and recorded it back in the early 80s.
One of my favorite recent covers is “The Sound of Silence” by Disturbed. It is haunting, and takes on an entirely different feeling from the original Simon & Garfunkel hit. I can’t think Paul Simon was disappointed when he first heard it.
I don’t want to go all Sean Ross on you, but for me, that’s the key to a great cover – that it reinterprets the original artist’s song in novel or even unusual ways. Too many covers sound indistinguishable from the original version, like Aerosmith’s “Come Together” – in my mind, too darn close to the Beatles version. The closer in sound to the original, the harder it is for us radio programmers and researchers to get a true music test reading.
But what about artists who cover their own material?
That doesn’t happen very often. One of the best known is Eric Clapton’s acoustic version of “Layla” – nothing like the original version released years earlier during his Derek & the Dominos phase.
The slowed down version of “Layla” made its first appearance on the “MTV Unplugged” series, more than three decades after its original recording. And you can hear the buzz throughout the live audience when they figure out what they’re hearing.
Clapton has an equally interesting and compelling cover of “After Midnight” as well. You’ll hear both versions on many Classic Rock stations.
One of the most interesting “self-covers” hit my desktop last weekend. It was reimagined by the iconic 9os writer and performer, Alanis Morissette. Her “Jagged Little Pill” album became synonymous with angst, emotion, and the rhythm of the times.
At the time, Morrissette was unknown. But not for long. The album went on to sell 33 million copies (one of the most successful of all time), netting her 9 Grammy nominations and 5 awards (including Album of the Year, which made her the youngest performer ever to win it).
“You Oughta Know” was the breakout hit, but “Ironic” was also a huge song from “Jagged” with a focus on its sometimes (un)ironic lyrics.
And “Ironic” is the song she recently covered with “The Late Late Show’s” host James Corden in a duet that provides a whole new context for what’s ironic in 2019.
With all the technology all around us, it is often easy to become oblivious to many of its impacts because we live it every day – social media, dating apps, and Netflix. Leave it to Morissette and James Corden to remind us of our modern-day ironies.
As you watch the video, you realize that most of the ironies in this new cover of the song are technologies, gadgets, and products that weren’t around back in the mid-90s when the original was recorded.
It’s a reminder to all of us just how quickly our day-to-day lives have been permanently altered by the rapid march of tech, invading every nook and cranny of our lives.
As the Industrial Revolution redefined American culture well more than a century ago, so has the semi-technocracy that has permeated our jobs, our businesses, our families, and so much of our daily routines.
Ironic?
Some might think it’s a little demonic. Or perhaps even a bit sardonic.
I’m going with “tech-tonic.” That should cover it.
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This morning, ’80s-centric WIAD-FM in Washington DC played Naked Eyes’ big 1983 hit, “Always Something There to Remind Me”, in all its synth-pop glory.
Hard to believe its a Burt Bacharach tune from 1964, recorded by many artists, including Dionne Warwick:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(There%27s)_Always_Something_There_to_Remind_Me
Dating myself, but I remember it well (as well as every other Dionne Warwick hit!). Thanks for chiming in, Alan.
Count me as a fan of Big Mama Thornton’s original version of Hound Dog over Elvis’ cover. And of J.J. Cale’s original After Midnight over
either of Clapton’s covers. Although…I have to note the Jerry Garcia Band takes it to a whole new level. Blink 182’s After Midnight – well that’s a whole ‘nother story.
Jay, thanks for the note. I should’ve mentioned Clapton covered Cale!
After reading this post, I had to listen again to the official cover of Temptation Eyes by the Blake Babies (i.e., Juliana Hatfield’s first band)–and then to Replacements’ outtake version, which I wasn’t really familiar with. If you’re only familiar with the original (by the Grass Roots), you might be surprised at how well both of these work.
Then, I decided to try comparing the original version of Ni Tú Ni Nadie (by Alaska y Dinarama) with Moenia’s hit cover. For someone like me, both are fine–although it looks like the original may still have more fans. More importantly, though, I realized that Moenia’s version was from an album of only covers (specifically, of ’80s rock en español)–which just so happens to be one of their most successful.
The more you look into covers, the crazier things you learn. In recent years, they are what they are – new versions of older songs that are (hopefully) reimagined to create something new and special. Back in the 50s and 60s – similar to the Elvis and Big Mama Thornton – it was about white groups remaking records originally made by black artists (where airplay and exposure) was limited. Thanks, Eric, for the comment.
Piling on. One of the more surprising covers I stumbled across recently was Bruce Springsteen interpreting the BeeGee’s Stayin’ Alive in Melbourne a few years ago. https://youtu.be/4n1GT-VjjVs A very different feel from John Travolta strutting down 86th Street in Brooklyn.