Everything about Cover Version totally explained
In
popular music, a
cover version, or simply
cover, is a new rendition (
performance or
recording) of a previously recorded song. In its current use, it can sometimes have a pejorative meaning — implying that the original recording should be regarded as the definitive version, usually in the sense of an "authentic" rendition, and all others are merely lesser competitors, alternatives or tributes (no matter how popular). However,
Billboard — and other magazines recording the popularity of the musical artists and hit tunes — originally measured the sales success of the published tune, not just recordings of it, or later the airplay that it also managed to achieve. In that context, the greater the number of cover versions, the more successful the song.
(External Link
)
History
The present view of popular music starts with the recording artists and their material, not the published tune (in search of a popular artist to record it, for example from
Tin Pan Alley in New York or
Denmark Street in London). It is, then, in the light of an earlier, autonomous, poetic
minstrel tradition that late twentieth/early twenty-first century
singer-songwriter fixations may best be viewed. And with this, the prevailing distaste for artists who perform another's material as cover versions or compositions for produced artists in the
Brill Building style (which produced very many tunes that were — and are still — widely covered by many artists in a variety of styles).
The term cover version originally implied a rival version of a tune recorded by an artist subsequent to an original version, for example
Paul Williams's
1949 hit tune "The Hucklebuck" or
Hank Williams' 1952
(External Link) smash
Jambalaya (On the Bayou), both crossed over to the popular Hit Parade and had numerous hit versions. Prior to the mid-20th century the notion of an original version of a popular tune would, of course, have seemed slightly odd — the production of musical entertainment being seen essentially as a
live event, even if one that was reproduced at home via a copy of the
sheet music, learned by heart, or captured on a
shellac recording disc. Popular musicians (and especially modern listeners) have now begun to use the word "cover" to refer to any remake of a previously recorded tune.
Musicians now play what they call "cover versions" (for example the reworking, updating or interpretation) of songs as a tribute to the original performer or group. Using familiar material (for example evergreen hits, standard tunes or classic recordings) is an important method in learning various styles of music. Most albums, or long playing records
(External Link), up until the mid-1960s usually contained a large number of evergreens or standards to present a fuller range of the artist's abilities and style
(External Link). Artists might also perform interpretations ("covers") of a favorite artist's hit tunes
(External Link) for the simple pleasure of playing a familiar song or collection of tunes
(External Link). A
cover band plays such "cover versions" exclusively.
In the contemporary world, there are broadly three types of entertainers who depend upon on cover versions for their principle repertoire:
Tribute acts or bands are performers who make a living by recreating the music of one particular artist. Bands such as
Bjorn Again,
Dread Zeppelin and the
Fab Faux are dedicated to playing the music of
ABBA,
Led Zeppelin and
the Beatles respectively. There are also "tribute acts" that salute
the Who,
the Rolling Stones,
Pink Floyd and many other
classic rock acts. Most tribute bands are content to perform copycat versions of the original repertoire. Some tribute bands introduce a twist. Dread Zeppelin's reggae takes on the Zeppelin catalog, and
Beatallica creates heavy metal fusions of songs by the Beatles and
Metallica.
Cover acts or bands are entertainers who perform a broad variety of crowd-pleasing material for audiences who enjoy the familiarity of hit songs. Such bands draw from Top 40 hits of different decades to provide a pleasurable nostalgic entertainment in bars, on cruise ships and at events such as weddings, family celebrations and corporate functions.
Revivalist artists or bands are performers who are inspired by an entire genre of music and who are dedicated to curating and recreating that genre and introducing it to younger audiences who have not experienced that music first hand. Unlike tribute bands and cover bands who rely primarily on audiences seeking a nostalgic experience, revivalist bands usually seek new young audiences for whom the music is fresh and has no nostalgic value. For example:
Sha Na Na started in 1969 as a celebration of the
doo-wop music of the 1950s, a genre of music that wasn't initially fashionable during the hippie counter-culture era.
The Blues Brothers started in 1978 as a living salute to the blues, soul and R&B music of the 1950s and 1960s that wasn't in vogue by the late 70s. The Blues Brothers' creed was that they were "on a mission from God" as evangelists for blues and soul music. The
Black Crowes formed in 1984, initially dedicated to reviving 1970s style blues-rock. They subsequently started writing their own material in the same vein.
Origin Of The Term
Multiple Version In Various Formats Or Locations
From early in the 20th century it was common practice among
phonograph record labels, if any company had a record that was a significant commercial success, that other record companies would have singers or musicians "cover" the "hit" tune by recording a version for their own label in hopes of cashing in on the tune's success. For example,
Ain't She Sweet,
(External Link), was first popularized in
1927 by
Eddie Cantor (on stage) and by Ben Bernie and
Gene Austin (on record), was repopularized through popular recordings by Mr. Goon Bones & Mr. Ford and
Pearl Bailey in 1949, and later still revived as 33
1/3 and 45 RPM records by the
Beatles in 1964.
(External Link) Since there was little promotion or advertising involved in the earlier days of record production, other than at the local music hall or music store, when the average record buyer went out to purchase a new record, they usually asked for the tune, not the artist. In addition, distribution of records was highly localized in many cases. So, a quickly-recorded version of a hit song from another area could reach an audience before the version by the artist(s) who first introduced the tune in a particular format - the "original", "introductory" or "popularizing" artist - was widely available, and the highly competitive record companies were quick to take advantage of these facts.
Rival Outlets And Popularized Recordings
This began to change in the later 1930s, when the average age of the now greatly increased record-buying public began to expand to include a younger age group. During the
Swing Era, when a
bobby soxer went looking for a recorded tune, say "
In the Mood", typically she wanted the version popularized by her favourite artist(s), for example the
Glenn Miller version (on RCA Victor's cheaper Bluebird label), not someone else's (sometimes presented on a more expensive record company's label). This trend was marked closely by the charting of record sales by the different artists, not just hit tunes, on the music industry's Hit Parades. However, for sound commercial reasons, record companies still continued to record different versions of tunes that sold well.
Most audiences until the mid-1950s still heard their favorite artists playing live music on stage or via the
radio. And since radio shows were for the most part aimed at local audiences, it was still rare for an artist in one area to reach a mass audience. Also radio stations tended to cater to broad audience markets, so an artist in one vein might not get broadcast on other stations geared to a set audience. So popular versions of Jazz, Country and Western or Rhythm and Blues tunes, and vice versa, were frequent. Consider
Mack The Knife (Die Moritat vom Mackie Messer):
(External Link) this was originally from Bertholt Brecht's 1928 Die Dreigroschenoper
(External Link). It was popularised by a 1956 record
Hit Parade instrumental tune,
Moritat, for the Dick Hyman Trio, also recorded by Richard Hayman & Jan August,
(External Link) but a hit also for
Louis Armstrong 1956/1959,
Bobby Darin, 1959,
(External Link) and
Ella Fitzgerald, 1960,
(External Link) as vocal versions of Mack The Knife.
Europe's
Radio Luxembourg, like many commercial stations, also sold "air time"; so record companies and others bought air time to promote their own artists or products, thus increasing the number of recorded versions of any tune then available. Add to this the fact that many radio stations were limited in their permitted "
needle time" (the amount of recorded music they were allowed to play), or were regulated on the amount of local talent they'd to promote in live broadcasts, as with most national stations like the BBC in the UK.
Incentives To Make Duplicate Recorded Versions Of A Tune Or Song
Even to this day, authors and publishers are paid royalty by broadcasters and artists are not; there's still an incentive to record numerous versions of a song, particularly in different genres. For example,
King records frequently cut both
rhythm and blues and
country and western versions of
novelty songs like "
Good Morning, Judge" and "
Don't Roll those Bloodshot Eyes at Me". This tradition was expanded when
rhythm and blues songs began showing up on
pop music charts.
In the early days of
rock and roll, many tunes originally recorded by R&B and Country musicians were still being re-recorded in a more popular vein by other artists with a more toned-down style or professional polish
(External Link). Given the reluctance of radio stations to play formats outside their own target audience group's taste, this was inevitable. By far the most popular style of music in the mid-1950s / mid-1960s was still the professional light orchestral unit, so that was the format sought by popular recording artists
(External Link).
For many purists these popular versions lacked both the raw, often amateurish, earthiness of the original introducing artists. But mostly they didn't have the added kudos craved by many rebellious teenagers, the social stigma - or street credibility - of rock and roll music; as most of these were performed by the type of black artists not heard on the popular mass entertainment markets, some having also been written by them. The bowdlerized popular cover versions were considered by most audiences at the time to be more palatable for the mass audience of both parents and children as a group audience. Therefore the artists targeting the white-majority family audience were more acceptable to programmers at most radio and TV stations. For this reason singer-songwriter
Don McLean has called the cover version a "racist tool."
(External Link) Many parents in the 1950s - 60s, whether intentionally racists or not, felt deeply threatened by the rapid pace of social change. After all they'd for the most part shared entertainments with their parents in ways that their own children had become reluctant to do. The jukebox and the
personal record disc player were still relatively expensive pieces of machinery - and the
portable radio a great novelty, allowing truculent teenagers to shut themselves off.
Tunes by introducing or "original" artists which were then successful on the mass audience Hit Parade charts are called
crossovers as they "crossed over" from the targeted Country, Jazz or Rhythm audience. Also, many songs originally recorded by male artists were rerecorded by female artists, and vice versa. Such a cover version is also sometimes called a
cross cover version. Incidentally, up to the mid-1930s male vocalists often sang the female lyrics to popular songs, though this faded rapidly after it was deemed decadent in Nazi Germany.
Reworking non-English language tunes and lyrics for the Anglo-Saxon markets was once a popular part of the music business. For example, the 1954 worldwide hit The Happy Wanderer was originally
Der fröhliche Wanderer, to this must be added
Hymne a l`amour,
Mutterlein,
Volare,
Seeman,
Quando, Quando, Quando,
L'amour est bleu, etc.
Etymological speculation
While it's now all but impossible to trace the actual history of the term
cover version, it was used from the late 1940s to indicate rival versions of a tune competing for placement on the popular Hit Parade charts. One possible origin of the term is that it relates to the record company "covering a bet" by placing a bet on a song someone else has already bet on, hoping to ride the coattails of their good luck. Another commonly-suggested origin, also apocryphal, is that a new recording by a white artist was intended to "cover up the blackness" of the original and make it acceptable to white listeners. A similar idea given credence by some, is attached to the seminal U. S. rock-and-roll disc jockey
Dick Clark which makes a possible--but unproven--case for the term
cover actually being used (once again, quite literally) as a "covering" of one record on a (radio station's) turntable by another record; for example, a black group's recording being "covered" by a white group's rendition, thereby preventing radio play for the original (since only the record "on top" could be played on a broadcast turntable). This last fits the rumoured, but again unproven, notion that the term originated in record companies' board rooms: when a song by a rival company began to look like a hit, executives would ask if their A & R men (the forerunners of today's
record producers) had any recordings of the song that could be released; the correct response would have been, "We've got that covered"--not as unlikely as it seems, in all probability it simply comes from the journalistic background shared by most of the Music Industry's A & R (artists and repertory) promoters. Thus, their featured artists
Feature article: the main article on the front page of a newspaper, or the cover story
in a magazine (External Link).
A fourth suggestion, the simplest and in all probability the best (also the only one that can easily be demonstrated), is that the term "cover" may have its origins in an attempt by the promoter's of an artist who recorded the newer version of the song to have his/her version literally "cover" the original version in the sales racks (watch the 1958 British Rock 'n' Roll film
The Golden Disc(External Link) to see this in practice); until the mid-1960s record stores set out their precious 78RPM or 45RPM singles on wooden shelves behind a sales counter
(External Link), first by tune, then by artist.
Woolworth, a discount chain store, even had its own label (Embassy) specializing in low-price copies of popular tunes; often price was a major factor in buying what was still a relatively expensive item. The more popular, established, or local artist would always be given precedence over newcomers or niche market artists. (To see this "covering" process in action, watch the 1957 Elvis Presley film
Jailhouse Rock (External Link).)
Modern cover versions
Cover versions of many popular songs have been recorded, sometimes with a radically different style, sometimes virtually indistinguishable from the original. For example,
Jose Feliciano's version of "
Light My Fire" (recorded after the original had disappeared from sales charts) was distinct from
The Doors' version, but
Carl Carlton's
1974 cover (seven years after the fact) of
Robert Knight's
1967 hit single "Everlasting Love" sounded almost identical to the original. Another one of the most recent songs to be covered is the 2007 song "
Umbrella" by Rihanna. Artists such as Scott Simons, Marie Digby, Mandy Moore, Vanilla Sky, Biffy Clyro, My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park and others have covered it in different styles.
Cover versions can also still cross language barriers.
Falco's 1982
German-language hit "Der Kommissar" was covered in English by
After the Fire, although the German title was retained. The English version, which wasn't a direct translation of Falco's original but retained much of its spirit, reached the Top 5 on the US charts.
The Lion Sleeps Tonight evolved over several decades and versions from a 1939
Zulu a cappella song. Many of singer
Laura Branigan's 1980s hits were English-language remakes of songs already successful in Europe, for the American record market. Numerable English-language covers exist of
99 Luftballons by German singer
Nena, one having been recorded by
Nena herself following the success of her original German version. "
Popcorn", a song which was originally completely instrumental, has had lyrics added in at least six different languages in various covers.
Although modern cover versions are often produced for artistic reasons, some aspects of the disingenuous spirit of early cover versions remain. In the album-buying heyday of the 1970s, albums of sound-alike covers were created, commonly released to fill
bargain bins in the music section of
supermarkets and even specialized
music stores, where uninformed
customers might easily confuse them with original recordings. The packaging of such discs was often intentionally confusing, combining the name of the original artist in large letters with a tiny disclaimer like
as originally sung by or
as made popular by. More recently, albums such as the
Kidz Bop series of
compact discs, featuring versions of contemporary songs sung by children, have sold successfully.
Organized crime, or unscrupulous labels, have been known to release original recordings in other markets, without payment of
royalties to the writers or artists; these unauthorized releases couldn't be properly termed "cover" recordings.
Updating older songs
Cover versions (as the term is now used) are often contemporary versions of familiar songs. For example "
Singin' in the Rain" was originally introduced in the film
The Hollywood Revue of 1929. The famous
Gene Kelly version was a revision that brought it up to date for a 1950s Hollywood musical, and was used in the 1952 film
Singin' in the Rain. In 1978 it was covered by
French singer
Sheila accompanied by the
B. Devotion group, as a
disco song, once more updating it to suit the musical taste of the era. During the disco era there was a brief trend of taking well known songs and recording them in the disco style. More recently "Singin' In the Rain" has been covered and remixed by British act
Mint Royale for a television commercial for
Volkswagen. Another example of this, from a different angle, is the tune
Blueberry Hill,
(External Link) many mistakenly believe the
Fats Domino 1956 release to be the original recording and artist. In fact, it was originally introduced on film by
Gene Autry and popularised on the record Hit Parade of
1940 by Glenn Miller. The Fats Domino
Rock 'n' Roll version is the only one that might currently get widespread airplay on most media - due, no doubt, to the still prevailing prejudice against non-beat music artists or styles.
Director Baz Luhrmann has contemporised and stylised older songs for use in his films. New or cover versions such as
John Paul Young's "Love Is in the Air" occur in
Strictly Ballroom,
Candi Staton's "Young Hearts Run Free" appear in
Romeo + Juliet, and adaptations of artists such as
Nat King Cole,
Nirvana,
Kiss,
Thelma Houston,
Marilyn Monroe,
Madonna,
T. Rex,
David Bowie,
Queen and
The Police are used in
Moulin Rouge! The covers are carefully designed to fit into the structure of each film and suit the taste of the intended audience.
Introduction of new artists
New artists are often introduced to the record buying public with performances of well known, "safe" songs as evidenced in
Pop Idol and its international counterparts. It is also a means by which the public can more easily concentrate upon the new performer without the need to judge the quality of the songwriting skills.
However, some new artists have chosen to radically rework a popular song to exemplify their approach and philosophy to music. Prime examples include
Joe Cocker's soulful reworking of
The Beatles' originally-jaunty "
With a Little Help from My Friends", and the band
Devo's radical reconstruction of the
Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". Many musicians have other goals, such as to create publicity as in
Sid Vicious' notorious rendition of "My Way", or to personalize a song, such as
Johnny Cash reworking
Nine Inch Nails's "
Hurt" to a devastating acoustic version that reflected upon his ill state. Cash's version of "Hurt" is considered by many to be one of the most powerful songs ever recorded, and
Trent Reznor himself has said "that song isn't mine anymore… It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form."
Tributes, tribute albums and cover albums
Established artists often pay homage to artists or songs that inspired them before they started their careers by recording cover versions, or performing unrecorded cover versions in their live performances for variety. For example
U2 has performed
ABBA's "
Dancing Queen" live, and
Kylie Minogue has performed
The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go" - songs that would be completely out of character for them to record, but which allow them artistic freedom when performing live. These performances are often released as part of authorised "live recordings" and thus become legitimate cover versions.
In recent years unrelated contemporary artists have contributed individual cover versions to
tribute albums for well established artists who are considered to be influential and inspiring. This trend was spawned by
Hal Willner's
Amarcord Nino Rota in
1981. Typically, each project has resulted in a collection of the particular artist's best recognised or most highly regarded songs reworked by more current performers. Among the artists to receive this form of recognition are
Joy Division,
Guns N' Roses,
New Order,
Rush,
Faith No More,
Tom Waits,
Oingo Boingo,
The Bee Gees,
ABBA,
Fleetwood Mac,
Cher,
Shania Twain,
Linkin Park,
Kate Bush,
Bob Dylan,
Johnny Cash,
Rammstein,
The Carpenters,
Dolly Parton,
Nirvana,
Nine Inch Nails,
Leonard Cohen,
U2,
Jimi Hendrix,
Elton John,
Duran Duran,
Carole King,
Smashing Pumpkins,
Led Zeppelin,
Sick Of It All,
Metallica,
the Ramones,
Queen,
Sublime,
Velvet Revolver,
Weezer, the
Finn brothers,
Bruce Cockburn,
Donovan,
Harry Chapin,
Gordon Lightfoot, and
Björk. At least five tribute albums to
Gary Numan have been released.
The soundtracks to the films
I Am Sam and
Across the Universe are examples of this: they consisted of Beatles songs redone by various modern artists. Some more notable examples are
Conception: The Interpretation of Stevie Wonder Songs;
Common Thread an album of contemporary country artists performing hit singles by
The Eagles; the
Rhythm, Country and Blues album where a
country artist duets with a
Rhythm and blues artist on a standard of either genre. Two notable tribute albums to the Grateful Dead are Wake the Dead, with
Celtic-style covers, and
Might As Well, by
The Persuasions.
In some cases this proves to be popular enough to spawn a series of cover albums being released for a band, either under a consistent branding such as the two
Black Sabbath Nativity in Black cover albums and the Industrial themed "Blackest Album" cover albums of
Metallica songs, or in the form of releases from a number of different companies cashing in on the trend such as the many
Metallica cover albums released in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Metallica itself is known for doing covers; their original album Kill Em All included a couple of covers (
Diamond Head's Am I Evil and Blitzkrieg's Blitzkrieg), the original
Garage Days Re-Revisited was a collection of covers paying homage to a number of mostly obscure bands, which were later combined with additional new covers on the 2 disc
Garage Inc., which among other things included covers of
Black Sabbath,
Bob Seger,
Blue Öyster Cult,
Mercyful Fate, and numerous
Motörhead tracks. In an interesting turn around there were even a couple of releases of The Metallic-Era CDs collecting tracks from bands that Metallica had covered, both the original versions of the covered songs, and some additional songs by the same artist.
A different type of all-covers album occurs when one artist creates a release of covers of songs originally by many other artists, as a way to recognize their influences or simply as a change of pace or direction. An early example of this was
David Bowie's album "
Pin Ups", featuring songs from groups with which he'd shared venues in the 1960s. Since these bands included
The Who and
The Kinks many of the tracks would have been at least familiar to his audience. Other more recent examples of this type of album include
Renegades by
Rage Against the Machine featuring covers of songs originally performed by diverse artists including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Afrikaa Bambaataa, and Erik B and Rakim, as well as the
EP Feedback by Canadian rock band
Rush.
Tori Amos' album
Strange Little Girls features covers of songs originally performed by male artists sung from the perspective of thirteen female characters she created.
Awaken's double album
Party In Lyceum's Toilets has a whole CD dedicated to covers of various artists.
Manfred Mann did albums with more covers than original songs, following the mould of
Vanilla Fudge. More rarely, bands will do an entire album of cover songs originally by a particular artist, such as
The The's
Hanky Panky, which consists entirely of
Hank Williams songs, or
Booker T. and the MGs' album McLemore Avenue which was a cover of
The Beatles'
Abbey Road, or
Russ Pay's tribute to Manchester legends
Joy Division.
There are also bands who create entire albums out of covers, but unlike
Tin Pan Alley-style
traditional pop singers, they often perform the songs in a genre completely unlike the original songs. Examples include
the Moog Cookbook (alternative and classic rock songs done on
Moog synthesizers),
Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine (
top 40, including
punk,
heavy metal,
teen pop and
indie rock performed in a
Vegas lounge lizard style), and
Hayseed Dixie (a play on the name
AC/DC, they started covering AC/DC songs and progressed to other classic rock, playing them as
bluegrass songs, similar to
The Gourds' version of "Gin and Juice.") Also notable are
Dread Zeppelin, who take
Led Zeppelin songs and cover them in a
reggae fashion with the added twist of an
Elvis Presley impersonation on the lead vocal;
Nine Inch Elvis, who take
Elvis Presley songs and rework them in an industrial fashion similar to
Nine Inch Nails; and
Beatallica, who "mix up" songs from
The Beatles and
Metallica, into metallica-sounding songs with humorous lyrics referring to both bands' works.
In that same category, the
Blues Brothers have made only covers in their 3 most famous albums,
Briefcase Full Of Blues,
Made in America and the motion picture soundtrack
The Blues Brothers. They covered blues, R&B, soul, country and rock'n'roll songs, but with their own particular, fresh and raw style of interpretation, a successful blend of the Memphis
Stax sound provided by MGs band members
Steve Cropper and
Donald Dunn, and the New York City sound from the horn section (
Alan Rubin and
Lou Marini, for example). The outcome sometimes gave a new life to songs. Some became even more popular after the
Blues Brothers had played them, than before. The best example is "
Soul Man", more remembered as a hit by the
Blues Brothers rather than by the original singers,
Sam and Dave. The same can be said of
She Caught the Katy (originally created by
Taj Mahal) and
Jailhouse Rock (sung by
Elvis Presley) or
Sweet Home Chicago (
Robert Johnson), acknowledging the fact that covers can become even more famous than original performances.
Recent years have seen well-established artists (especially those mostly active in the 1980s) release cover albums, such as
Poison (
Poison'd!),
Tesla (
Real to Reel),
Queensrÿche (
Take Cover), and
Def Leppard (
Yeah!), revealing a wide range of musical influences.
Some cover albums take the unusual tack of doing classical versions of rock and metal songs. The unusual band
Apocalyptica which comprises four classical cellists started out performing classical arrangements of Metallica songs. In a similar vein, there have also been many
string quartet tributes to popular rock and metal bands, most notably
Tool,
Black Sabbath,
New Order/
Joy Division,
the Cure,
Muse, the
Beatles, and even
Coldplay among others.
One more type of cover album is when a cover of the entire album is done, rather than a collection of songs. A notable band to earn acclaim this way are the Easy Star All-Stars, who covered
The Dark Side of the Moon by
Pink Floyd in their album
Dub Side of the Moon and
OK Computer by
Radiohead in their album
Radiodread. Both albums were radical departures from the original albums, being redone in reggae/dub. Another album cover to radically
remake the original in a new genre is the 2001
Rebuild the wall, where
Luther Wright & the Wrongs covered the entire double-album
The Wall by
Pink Floyd as a country/bluegrass opus. A daring undertaking blessed by members of
Pink Floyd, it's faithful to both the story line, concept, and
feel of the original and the musical depth possible within the new genre.
British pop group
No Way Sis, released a single in 1996 which heavily borrowed from the Oasis hit Shakermaker. The song was often referred to as
No Way Sis plagiarizing Oasis, plagiarizing The New Seekers, plagiarizing The Beatles.
Speculation on most covered songs
There are several songs that have been said to have the most cover versions, but for various reasons it's difficult to accurately determine what song has the most cover versions. Databases attempting to do so may be incomplete or flawed with regard to songs from the developing world. In addition to that older songs may have cover versions that are no longer well documented.
Certain songs are largely known for having a large number of cover versions and are called "standards." In musical forms like
blues or particularly
jazz it isn't uncommon for musicians to have albums or CDs made up primarily of standards. For more on this see
Blues standard,
Jazz standard, and the
Great American Songbook.
The Beatles' "
Yesterday" is often called the most covered song in popular music history; some allege there are over three thousand different versions, although no evidence has been provided (As of May 16, 2008 - the online music service
Rhapsody shows the song showing up on 934 albums). An online cover song database lists a little over a hundred covers for the song,
(External Link) but places
Eleanor Rigby as being more covered than it.
(External Link) The Beatles' "
Come Together" has also been covered numerous times. It has been documented that "
A Whiter Shade of Pale" by
Procol Harum has been covered over 800 times.
(External Link)George Gershwin's "
Summertime" (from
Porgy and Bess) is considered a standard (see
jazz standard) so has been performed in enough versions that an accurate number might be difficult to ascertain.
Irving Berlin's "
White Christmas" (from the film
Holiday Inn) is well known for having been covered, and what is more a
popular hit record, numerous times. According to one estimate "
Cry Me a River", written by Arthur Hamilton, had 115 cover versions.
(External Link)
The 1973 song
Radar Love by
Golden Earring has been recorded over 350 times
(External Link) and has appeared in many TV shows, movies and even video games. One of the most famous folk songs which has been covered more than 250 times is "House of the rising sun". It has been covered by famous artists like Bob Dylan, The Animals, Nina Simone, Eric Burdon
Other songs which have been released many times as cover versions include "
Popcorn" by
Gershon Kingsley (which has been covered over 200 times,
(External Link)) "
Rock Around the Clock",
(External Link),, "
Eres Tú" by
Mocedades,
(External Link)"
Billie Jean" by
Michael Jackson, "
Over the Rainbow" by
Judy Garland, "
Blue Monday" (
New Order), "
Louie Louie" (
Richard Berry), "
Sunny" (
Bobby Hebb), "
Fever" (
Otis Blackwell),"
Across the Universe" (
The Beatles), "
Baby It's You" (
The Shirelles), "
By the Time I Get to Phoenix" (
Jimmy Webb), "
Helter Skelter" (
The Beatles), "
Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (
Bob Dylan), "
Twist and Shout" (
Isley Brothers), "
We Will Rock You" (
Queen), "
Besame Mucho" (
Consuelo Velázquez), "
Free Bird" (
Lynyrd Skynyrd), "
When I Fall In Love" (
Doris Day), "
Love Will Tear Us Apart" (
Joy Division), "
Stardust" (
Bing Crosby), "
Garota de Ipanema" (
Tom Jobim/
Vinicius de Moraes), "
Feelings" (
Morris Albert), "
No Woman No Cry" (
Bob Marley & the Wailers), "
Dirty Old Town" (
Ewan MacColl), "
I Fought the Law" (
Sonny Curtis), "
Axel F" (
Harold Faltermeyer), "
Roll Over Beethoven" (
Chuck Berry), "
How Deep Is Your Love" (
The Bee Gees), "
Something" (
The Beatles), "
Missing You" (
John Waite), "
Soul Man" (
Sam & Dave) and many of the less recent works of
Bob Dylan (such as "
Knocking on Heaven's Door" and "
All Along the Watchtower") "
Paranoid" (
Black Sabbath) and
Leonard Cohen (as of
December 5 2004, there were at least 940 published cover versions of Cohen songs.
(External Link)) The
Australian television program
The Money or the Gun featured for every episode a new cover of
Stairway to Heaven, played in versions ranging from a
Wagnerian opera to a
Beatles melody.
Covers In Particular Popular Genres of The Late 20th/ Early 21st Cent
Metal
Many up and coming bands in the
metal genre cover songs by their predecessors to gain public interest, although more established bands have also recorded covers.
Metallica,
Napalm Death,
Entombed,
Iced Earth and
Slayer have released entire albums of covers, for example. In specific subgenres of metal, covers generally reflect the genre the band is in. The
Norwegian black metal band
Mayhem have recorded several
Venom covers, while Mayhem themselves have been covered many times, their song
Deathcrush has been covered around 140 times, according to
Encyclopedia Metallum.
Another approach taken by several metal bands, including
Children of Bodom, is to cover songs generally not listened to by metal fans, such as pop, punk, or classic rock songs. Children of Bodom's cover of Britney Spears' "Oops I Did It Again" was originally recorded as an in-joke amongst the band members but ended up being released as a bonus track on one of their EPs, as well as
Andrew W.K.'s "She is Beautiful."
Blind Guardian have covered several surf-rock songs, such as "Mr. Sandman", "Barbara Ann" and "Long Tall Sally".
Yngwie J. Malmsteen covered
ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" renamed "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (Your Love After Midnight)" the song features the same lyrics, with minor edits, and the same music with a more powerful metal feel.
Hip-hop
In recent years, artists have begun covering
hip hop songs, most frequently in concert. A notable such cover recorded in a studio and released commercially is
bluegrass version of "
Gin and Juice" by
Snoop Doggy Dogg, as performed by
The Gourds.
Ben Folds,
Tori Amos,
Nina Gordon,
KT Tunstall,
Jonathan Coulton,
Luka Bloom,
Ben Kweller,
Dynamite Hack, and
Keller Williams have also recorded covers of hip-hop songs.
Many of these tracks rely on the incongruity of a white artist performing music normally thought of as "black" for comic effect or shock value, though some (such as Luka Bloom's acoustic version of
LL Cool J's "I Need Love" and Tori Amos's harrowing remake of
Eminem's "'97 Bonnie and Clyde") are played entirely "straight." The 2000 compilation
Take a Bite Outta Rhyme consists entirely of covers of this type, performed by various artists to various degrees of seriousness.
Run-D.M.C.'s 1986 cover of
Aerosmith's
Walk This Way, which featured the original band, is a notable example of a hip-hop group remaking a popular song from another genre; most of what passes for "cover" versions in the new millennium should indeed be termed "remakes" in this respect.
The band
Mindless Self Indulgence recorded a cover of the song "Bring the Pain" by
Method Man in which they completely change the entire rhythm and sound of the song. The only part of the original song retained in their cover is the lyrics.
Swamp pop
A type of cover version that existed from the early 1950s to the late 1970s in
Louisiana was known as
swamp pop. Contemporary and classic rock, R&B, and country songs were re-recorded with
Cajun audiences in mind. Some lyrics were translated to
French, and some were recorded with traditional Cajun instrumentation. Several swamp pop songs charted nationally, but it was mostly a regional niche market.
New Age
The
Taliesin Orchestra specializes in remaking famous songs into orchestra-style melodies. Their debut album,, was a collection of songs originally created and sung by
Enya.
Indie
As heard on the television series,
The O.C., independent artists create covers for songs done by other independent artists.
Petra Haden has done several song covers, most notably, the song Yellow by Coldplay.
Youth Group did a cover for
Alphaville with the song
Forever Young.
Singer-songwriter Chan Marshall (a.k.a.
Cat Power) is known for covering other musicians' songs in her own, unique style.
Punk
Hundreds of songs have been covered by punk/pop punk bands, including the bands
Rancid,
The Sex Pistols,
A New Found Glory (covering most famously the
Titanic theme My Heart Will Go On by
Celine Dion and Everything I Do (I Do It For You) by
Bryan Adams),
Yellowcard and hundreds of others.
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is a punk band that only does cover songs.
Hardcore
Swedish band
Eternal September cover pop songs adapting them to the aesthetic of hardcore music.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cover Version'.
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