Cover Me
On the Listen Up blog from the Post Standard's Mark Bialczak is this iten about cover songs.
Ever go see a band in a bar? Ever hear them play an insipid cover of a song that sucked when the original band did it years ago? Should bands be barred from playing songs like “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang? Most purist rock fans I know would rather go to the opera than listen to a cover band. Then there are the drunk bar patrons who ONLY want to hear what they already know, as if the band were just a fancy jukebox.
Here’s a perfect lament on the strain on bands to play to the least common denominator bar patron by John Eddie, called “Play Some Skynyrd”:
“Here’s a song about my daddy/here’s a song about my past
Here’s a part where I open up my heart/Here’s a line where I tear off my mask
Then a voice in the back stops me in my tracks/brings me crashing back when they say
Play some Skynyrd, play some Petty, play some Seger, play some Dead
Who the hell is John Eddie?/That’s what the redneck said
If you want to stick around/you’ve got to play some Skynyrd.”
I’ve never been like my music police friends--while any band worth seeing plays mostly originals, I think a couple of well-chosen covers might give an insight into the band’s influences or even give them a chance to stretch their playing by tackling something radically different from their style.
Hence, my favorite covers:
1) Summertime Blues--The Who originally by Eddie Cochran
2) Oye Como Va--Santana originally by Tito Puente
3) Black Magic Woman--Santana originally by Fleetwood Mac
4) Take Me To The River--Talking Heads originally by Al Green
5) Hurt--Johnny Cash originally by Nine Inch Nails
6) Trapped--Bruce Springsteen originally by Jimmy Cliff
7) Knowing Me, Knowing You--Marshall Crenshaw originally by Abba
8) The Man Who Sold The World--Nirvana originally by David Bowie
9) Little Wing--Stevie Ray Vaughan originally by Jimi Hendrix
10) Respect--Aretha Franklin originally by Otis Redding
Ever go see a band in a bar? Ever hear them play an insipid cover of a song that sucked when the original band did it years ago? Should bands be barred from playing songs like “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang? Most purist rock fans I know would rather go to the opera than listen to a cover band. Then there are the drunk bar patrons who ONLY want to hear what they already know, as if the band were just a fancy jukebox.
Here’s a perfect lament on the strain on bands to play to the least common denominator bar patron by John Eddie, called “Play Some Skynyrd”:
“Here’s a song about my daddy/here’s a song about my past
Here’s a part where I open up my heart/Here’s a line where I tear off my mask
Then a voice in the back stops me in my tracks/brings me crashing back when they say
Play some Skynyrd, play some Petty, play some Seger, play some Dead
Who the hell is John Eddie?/That’s what the redneck said
If you want to stick around/you’ve got to play some Skynyrd.”
I’ve never been like my music police friends--while any band worth seeing plays mostly originals, I think a couple of well-chosen covers might give an insight into the band’s influences or even give them a chance to stretch their playing by tackling something radically different from their style.
Hence, my favorite covers:
1) Summertime Blues--The Who originally by Eddie Cochran
2) Oye Como Va--Santana originally by Tito Puente
3) Black Magic Woman--Santana originally by Fleetwood Mac
4) Take Me To The River--Talking Heads originally by Al Green
5) Hurt--Johnny Cash originally by Nine Inch Nails
6) Trapped--Bruce Springsteen originally by Jimmy Cliff
7) Knowing Me, Knowing You--Marshall Crenshaw originally by Abba
8) The Man Who Sold The World--Nirvana originally by David Bowie
9) Little Wing--Stevie Ray Vaughan originally by Jimi Hendrix
10) Respect--Aretha Franklin originally by Otis Redding
