Dr. Ross writes:
>>I love the whole record, even the not-as-good-as-the-first-version "Fading
>>Fast," and I'm especially impressed with the Nick Drake and Replacements
>>covers, which are reinterpretations rather than rehashes, just like all
>>good covers should be.
>
>Tsk tsk. So Peggy Lee's "Fever", Bob Dylan's "Broke Down Engine",
>and Merle's "San Antonio Rose" (to name just three rehashes that
>immediately came to mind) are not good covers?
>
>I'd say there are lots of way to make good covers. An artist
>with a strong, distinctive voice -- and I'd put all of the above
>in that category -- can make a note-for-note remake of a song
>and still make a recording I find valuable on the strength of
>the subtle variations that that distinctive voice brings to
>the song.
>
>Stepping up for Jon W. who is probably tired of making this point
>(except he probably would not require even subtle variations
>if the cover was performed with good grace and skill),
>
Well, referencing Peggy Lee's "Fever" isn't going to win any points with
me, as I don't love either the song or her toneless version of it. If this
loses me major kitsch-cred points, that's fine with me.
But I used the word "rehash" advisedly. I think it's possible and even
fairly common to do a note-for-note rendition of someone else's song and
*still* bring something of oneself--usually having to do with the
distinctive voice that Ross mentions--to it. A rehash, on the other hand,
is nothing more than a carbon copy of a song, one that doesn't add any
distinctiveness of voice or anything else. A talented artist can sing a
note-for-note rendition of a song they didn't write and still make it their
own, by virtue of having a) a distinctive voice and b) emotional honesty,
and specifically the ability to give the listener a sense that the song
resonates emotionally for the singer as it did for the writer or original
performer.
In fact, radical reinterpretations tend not to work as well for me (for the
most part--though I do like some complete overhauls, including the
aforementioned punk rock version of "Pink Moon" that Sebadoh did) as do
subtle reinterpretations like Kelly Willis does with the songs by Nick
Drake and the Replacements. The songs are still recognizable (though "Time
Has Told Me" may not be immediately so, at least on casual listen), and
they don't stray all that far from the originals, but they're twangified
enough to fit Kelly's style; hearing her do an English-folkie-style "Time
Has Told Me" or an indie-rock "They're Blind" would have been weird.
Way more detail than I wanted to get into.
--Amy
"Ain't no use in hanging around/Emptiness swallows its own path/I watch my
weakness go down easy/And I pray it won't last..." (The Damnations TX)
