No Shame is a Good Cover!
No Shame is a Good Cover!
Week 14 | July 20, 2017
By the Forgotten Woman, JoOnna Silberman
I belong to a group which is a music review group on Facebook. There are many of them, but this one is special, and the comradery and reviews are real and thought out. It is a tight-knit group, so sometimes egos fly and tempers flare and I won’t lie in some cases a bit of stroking goes on, but out of all the groups, this one is the most profound and real that I have come across.
The topic of covers came up, mainly because we are doing a project solely based on covers and I brought it up. The responses were interesting to me. The immediate response to posting covers was interesting to me. The immediate was “I hate covers!” Then others chimed in and initially where they wouldn’t allow covers to be posted, the rule was changed and on occasion the group felt it would be okay.
It was the responses that intrigued me. The reason for not allowing covers on one hand were that they were not original, but a secondary complaint was that they were difficult, along the lines of when I post an original nobody knows when I mess up. When you do a cover, people can scrutinize you! However, in the “Pro” column was a very similar reason, they are difficult and a challenge to do. That musicianship is vulnerable and to make a cover your own is an art. It has also been suggested in other arenas that a cover song done correctly can help you get noticed, which has been done across genres many times, successfully.
Well, this might not surprise most of you, but I agree with the latter and am of the school that doing a cover is a testament to one’s musical guts, especially if it is a highly revered and loved song. If you can take a song that has been successful (even those which have not necessarily been successful, but has been done by a musician who is considered an icon,) and make it your own without disparaging and/or taking away from the intention of the song that is an art. Not only is it an art, but it is also a testament to the songwriter and/or musicians who recorded the song in the first place. It is in my opinion a huge compliment and sign of respect to the artist from whence the song originally came. Although there have been huge disasters as well, but I will get to that later.
While I have chosen to write about covers this week, I need to specify, I am not talking about cover bands. That is an entirely different conversation. Cover bands fall into two categories for me. There are those who have chosen to make a living playing the music from bands that they love and generally I don’t see many original songs from them. They have stuck to exercising their musical skills duplicating music, rather than creating it. I do not judge them but I find that they will not put themselves out there and take the risk of writing. Which is fine. Perhaps they just can’t and love playing so much, that is what they do. The other are those who are creative and need to do covers, in order to make a living. The truth is that there are millions of musicians out there, all competing for the same thing and a person has to make a living somehow. So again, nothing wrong with that. But in the same strain covers are an art, and there is nothing worse than a bad cover or a bad cover band for that matter.
Back to the subject at hand. It is the musician who can take someone else’s creation, and execute it with their own signature style, while keeping it clean, raw and original who has my blessing. I believe it is a sign of musical maturity to take on a cover. To admit another artists excellence, means you have put your ego aside (which as we all know is a hard thing for a musician to do) and you are embracing an understanding of music that is superior. But that is just me.
Forgotten Man is not devoid of covers, and we are presently working on a project which focuses exclusively on covers combining the talents of two of our musicians, Chris Adams and Elena Vance. Why? Because we revere and hold in high esteem the artists who we are covering, and it is the ultimate challenge as far as we are concerned. We started with “Little Wing”; next will be “Hurt” on August 4 (Johnny Cash arrangement). After on the 4th of each month will be another. “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You”, “Iceman” and “Lighter Touch”, which take us through November. There will be three more which are yet to be determined. We appreciate these songs and the musicians/bands that made them famous. It’s simple really. Both Elena Vance and Chris Adams have loads of their own material already recorded. I think at last count Andrew had enough for at least 6-10 full albums, which we will also be releasing over the coming months and years. But this project is special for us, and is a huge undertaking, so watch this space. I know Chris is working on an album in the winter months…so this is extra work for us, but well worth the doing we feel, as it enables us to broaden our experience and musical awareness. Also, recently Andrew released the Dark & Light Album, and I am not sure many are aware that there is a cover of “Whipping Post” on the Album. The sad truth is, that just days before Gregg passed we decided to include the cover, primarily because it is a brilliant cover. When Gregg died unexpectedly the album had already been mixed and mastered. We didn’t know what to do, because we didn’t want people to think we were taking advantage, so we played it down. However, next week Andrew will be releasing the video which accompanies “Whipping Post” in homage to the late great Gregg Allman. Timing is a key factor when doing a cover and the appearance of why one is doing it is paramount. Respect, respect, respect! After we are done with the project “Between the Sheets, and Kick the Covers” you will not see us doing a cover for a while.
Johnny Cash himself has done numerous covers. He really didn’t have to, if you think about it. He was and will always be a music icon. He did it for the pleasure as outlined in this article in Rolling Stone “Johnny Cash’s 11 Coolest Cover Songs” . Not only did he do it for the pleasure, he was a student of music and learned more by doing these covers, about writing and performing. About different technique and texture of songs. When you hear a musician state that they know everything and are the best because nobody knows more than they do, that is a huge red flag. A true musician should always be learning and evolving until the day they die. Which is something that Mr. Cash knew, understood and practiced. He took “Hurt” and truly made it his own to the point that many don’t realize the song was written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and originally released by them. They tend to think it is a Johnny Cash song. Even Reznor admits that it became Johnny’s song as related in this article “Trent Reznor talks Johnny Cash” by Chris Vinnicombe
Others have been masterful of their approach to covers. For instance, Heart covers Led Zeppelin quite a bit. Ann and Nancy certainly don’t have to either, just like Mr. Cash. But they loved Zeppelin and made it a point to show their love even bringing Robert Plant to tears at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012 performing “Stairway to Heaven” , they also have covered “Rock and Roll” and the “Battle of Evermore” which are just their Zeppelin covers more can be found here at Who Sampled a great site which will show you all the songs which artists have covered. Now did Heart make “Stairway to Heaven” their own, I believe they did, but they did not make the song, their song in their cover like Cash did with Hurt which is probably a rare accomplishment.
Other hugely successful covers can be found throughout the years and cross many genres, like Disturbed covering “Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel . In this particular case, the artist not only made the song their own, but shed a different light on the meaning. At least I think so. For me, “Sound of Silence” will always be a Simon and Garfunkel tune, but I am fairly positive there are many who think it is a Disturbed song. Odd to think that, but it’s true. It happens…just a few months ago, I bumped into a CU student here in Boulder, Colorado who didn’t know who the Beatles were…not surprising that many heavy metal listeners of a younger age, wouldn’t know who Simon and Garfunkel are. Shocking if you are me, yes…but not unheard of and most assuredly likely that in certain circles of fans the song has become that of the performers and no knowledge of the original musician is apparent. Thankfully there are enough of us still alive that we can right this wrong. But hats off to Disturbed for a wonderful cover, which I do listen to quite frequently. It depends on what mood I am in. If I am happy, I listen to the Simon and Garfunkel version, if I am down, Disturbed. It is just how the two different versions resonate with me at the time. An interesting list by VHI was published in 2013 which you might find interesting “Cover Me: 20 Famous Songs You Had No Idea Were Covers”
The list of well-known artists who have done covers is quite large and to me refreshing. Nirvana, Hendrix, Aretha, The Beatles, Cocker, Kravits , Guns N Roses, Radiohead, and more some of which are name in this article by Turntable Kitchen It says to me, that there is other music but my own, other genre’s than my own and others who are equally if not more talented than I am. Being humble in music is a true asset if one is going to become a better musician. Getting out of your box and accepting other’s talent is very telling to me of the true musician. It is inspirational frankly. I applaud those who take them on, as long as it doesn’t become a habit and is done infrequently, with taste and humility. There are those who use covers as a business tool to try to expand their audience and/or capitalize on another artist. I can usually tell who these are and in some cases, it backfires on them. I often wonder about the case Run-D.M.C.’s sampling of “Walk this Way”, while it certainly did them some good, was Aerosmith the real winner on that one? I think so actually. But that is a debate for another time. Perhaps they both came out ahead.
Beware though, while I embrace artists doing covers, I do not embrace them doing them too often and I suggest that the do them very carefully with reverence and respect, as well as learn the rules when it comes to covers. When a cover has been done badly there is absolutely no rock large enough to crawl under and the fans and critics will annihilate you as seen here in these three different worst covers lists: Cracked, Rolling Stone and Com Plex .
I say embrace the covers, get out of the box and learn from the masters…it is a challenge, but you can come out ahead for yourself and for the fans. But this is not for the weak at heart or for wimps! Tread carefully and wisely.
Thank you for reading,
JoOnna Silberman, The Forgotten Woman at Forgotten Man
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