Cover versions

[Mikkanjazza]

Can anyone explain to someone who has little knowledge of modern pop music just what it means when someone is said to "cover" a song? Is it just a modern way of saying they have recorded it, or does it signify something more? We would never have said that Frank Sinatra had "covered" Night and Day, for example - simply that he had recorded it..

[Mortartube]

Basically it means that an artist has recorded a pre existing song. It doesn't have to be an exact copy to be a cover version.

For instance Take That recorded Could It Be Magic which was a former track recorded by Barry Manilow. It is a cover version, not an exact copy. But it still counts as a cover version.

[saxy_jag]

Doesn't have to be recorded. If the number's been performed or recorded by an artist other than the original, it's a cover.

Those bands you hear in pubs and clubs that play all your favourite old 60s, 70s and 80s stuff? They're cover bands because that's what they do.

We maybe wouldn't have said the Frank Sinatra covered Night and Day because the word 'cover' is relatively new in this context.

[Keeprockin]

I tend to class "cover" version as direct competition to original; Eddie Cochran covered Johnny D's Sittin' In The Balcony, for example. If it's not in competion at the same time,then I class it as another version.

[1ARMEDBANDIT]

I have never saw the point in doing a cover version. They are never never as good as the original and it makes the artists doing it look as though he has run out of ideas and is cashing in on the original.

[saxy_jag]

1armedband - I see where you're coming from and to a large extent, I'd agree with you. But just occasionally someone does a cover version that knocks spots off the original, or at least matches it. Jeff Buckley's rendition of Hallelujah, for instance.

And also, if bands didn't do cover versions, we wouldn't be able to go to pubs and clubs and listen to our favourite songs for a fraction of the price (or even free) - and as I've said, they're not all bad.

And we wouldn't have karaoke either ... although that's maybe not such a bad thing. ;-)

[Postdog]

Nothing compares to you sticks out with me - far better than the original!

[Mikkanjazza]

Thanks everyone.