What is wrong with a little cover??

It’s a well known fact that just because you know how to sing, carry a tune on a guitar and have some spare time on your hands, you shouldn’t launch yourself into the art of the song cover. 

Just to prove our point we have picked out some prime examples of this law, even going as far to locate the evidence (just click the links to see the covers):- 

• Celine Dion and Anastacia’s take on AC/DC’s classic “You shook me all night long” which will forever have us questioning the crowd – why did you cheer?! Peer pressure maybe?
• Avril Lavigne taking on System Of A Down’s “Chop Suey“, granted this was some time ago and never made it past her gigs, is a special one – we really had to think about what the song was as it’s not immediately obvious.
• Snoop Dogg taking on Metallica’s “Sad but true” leaves us with a  few words to say on the subject, “it certainly is sad but true”. Metallica’s own Lars Ulrich is front and centre nodding along at the time, and we can only think he didn’t notice the verbal typos from everyone’s favourite rapper.

There are many others, and the above are not the top 3 we hasten to add – just amusing/cringeworthy! And so, just in case you were giving up the faith, we have gone and tracked down some covers which we feel actually has some backbone to them. First up, Kina Grannis, the US singer-songwriter with a beautiful, emotional version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. Stripped back in the Jeff Buckley fashion she stamps her own mark on a classic. For a singer-songwriter who typifies her music as “both sweet and melancholy, but always filled with hope. She’d want you to know that she saves drowning honeybees from pools whenever she gets the chance”. 

 

If you think that covers are something of a fad of late, then you would be wrong. One of the greatest covers, in our humble opinion, would have to be The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s 1968 version of “All Along The Watchtower”. Bob Dylan’s 1967 track was turned into a track of anthemic proportions. 

 

Both Grannis and Hendrix have shown that at different ends of the musical scales, a good cover is possible – you just need to work to your strengths. 

OK, so not everyone will agree with us – that’s fine – but think about it…can you remember the last cover you heard and really enjoyed? That’s a good cover!

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