Cover Songs

Here's a not-so-secret: I love cover songs. I once attempted to organize a playlist in iTunes of all my cover songs. ...It had five subcategories and literally hundreds of songs. Some of this is due to cover bands, like Me First & the Gimme Gimmes or Nouvelle Vague, and some of it was due to artists who are frequently covered, like Bob Dylan or the Beatles. Even considering these factors, there's no doubting that I! Love! Cover songs!

Given my extensive cover song collection, I think I can offer a few thoughts on what makes a good cover song. I think there are two elements that one must consider:

(1) Originality. Any bar band can cover a song note-for-note. Drafting a song into a different genre is often a great covering strategy.

(2) The Bizarre Factor. The interpretation of a song should not be at odds with the song itself. Prime example: I bought an entire CD of Green Day songs done in bluegrass. Now, I don't consider this a waste of money because, frankly, this album is hilarious, consistently reducing myself and others to tears. Unfortunately, that was not the intent of the band. Neither the bluegrass style nor the whole bluegrass ethos lend themselves to Green Day's punk sensibilties.

Whew! With that out of the way, let's move on to my selections. I narrowed it down to 5 songs that I decided you must hear, and, I have to say, this was extremely difficult. To download the song, click the link, and you'll be taken to my box.net account. On that page, click "download."

(1) (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Cat Power. Ms. Power employs a classic covering strategy in this cover of the Rolling Stones: acousticize. [amazon]

(2) Rock el Casbah - Rachid Taha. I really love foreign-language versions of songs. I think that this one is particularly ingenious: a cover of the Clash's "Rock the Casbah" done in Arabic, with added Arab stylings. [amazon]

(3) I Fought the Law - Dead Kennedys. This is a perfect example of how to take a cover song and make it your own. The DKs' cover of this Bobby Fuller Four song changes the lyrics almost completely to reflect Bay Area political scandals. They've taken this song and incorporated their own trademarks: biting political lyrics and classic hardcore sound. [amazon]

(4) I'm Real - The Starting Line. Here's a great example of the aforementioned genre-drafting. The popular J. Lo & Jay-Z hip-hop duet has been punkified by The Starting Line as a part of a multi-CD series entitled Punk Goes.... This song is off the album Punk Goes Pop. I'm also a big fan of Punk Goes 80s. [amazon]

(5) Kaar Mege [Rape Me] - Bugotak. Okay, this song does have a pretty high Bizarre Factor, but I still think it's pretty good. It's a cover of Nirvana's "Rape Me" done entirely in traditional Siberian instrumentation. I'm not certain of the language, but the vocals are in the style of Tuvan throat-singing. Pretty awesome stuff! [dmusic][freebie]

So concludes my very first real post! Leave me some comments, tell me what you think.