A footnote to our discussion of cover songs: Jason Powell sent this to Neil over on his blog and I liked it enough to post it here.
Showing posts with label Cover Songs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cover Songs. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Name Your Favorite Cover Songs
The clips of Young@Heart covering Coldplay’s “Fix You” and Johnny Cash covering Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” – thanks to Scott – have started a thing: name your favorite cover songs. Give the YouTube clips if you can. Maybe I will compile this into a thing later.
Here is mine, the second totally transforming the first:
Ace of Base’s “I Saw the Sign”
The Mountain Goats’ “I Saw the Sign”
Here is mine, the second totally transforming the first:
Ace of Base’s “I Saw the Sign”
The Mountain Goats’ “I Saw the Sign”
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Scott on NIN Vs Cash
[Guest blogger Scott wrote this as a response to my post about Young@Heart's cover of Coldplay's "Fix You." I am glad we have more stuff about music on here now.]
Trent Reznor's "Hurt"
Johnny Cash's "Hurt"
A few years back, Nine Inch Nails’ Industrial-aggro-ballad "Hurt" became an unlikely swan song for Johnny Cash. Without changing a single word, Cash managed to take what many had seen as a whiny, self-pitying tune written by Trent Reznor at the height of his popularity and transform it into something far more poignant.
Sometimes, a performer is able to completely change the meaning of a song simply by being who they are. Cash changes very little in the arrangement of the song other than removing the percussion. Most of what he brings to the table is his voice; instead of Reznor’s nasal whine we get Cashes distinctive baritone, a little worse for wear due to his declining health, which brings a level of authority to the lyrics that Reznor just isn’t capable. As the Who once said “It’s the singer not the song, that makes the music move along.”
Reznor’s lyrics are completely transformed in his hands and take on whole new meanings that Reznor couldn’t have even imagined when he wrote them.
“The Needle tears a hole, that old familiar sting. Try to kill it all away but I remember everything.”
When a Gen X musician sings about a “needle” in the mid 90s, he is obviously singing about heroin addiction. When Cash sings it, it could be about his own battles with addiction, but it also conjures images of a sick, old man in a hospital having to undergo IV after IV. Also, when Reznor sings “I remember everything” he’s talking about a couple of decades; Cash is singing about a lifetime.
“Everyone I know goes away in the end.”
Keeping with the theme of addiction, the Nine Inch Nails version is obviously Reznor feeling sorry for himself. Everyone “goes away” because he, and more specifically his addiction, pushes them away. For Cash, they go away because he’s old and all of his old buddies are dying (Waylon Jennings passed about a year or so before his recording of the song). Again, Reznor’s problem is preventable; he can stop if he really wants. Cash’s problem is, however, inevitable; as you get older people you know will die.
The chorus provides another excellent example, when Reznor Sings “You can have it all, my empire of dirt,” he is singing of an ‘empire’ that is, at best, a few years old and, since that empire was built by a man best known for writing a song with the chorus “I wanna fuck you like an animal”, there are many who would, indeed, classify it as one made of “dirt.” However, when Cash sings the same line, he is coming from the perspective of a legendary musician with a legacy a half-century old. For him to call his empire ‘dirt’ is a much more powerful statement of a man who has a greater perspective on what truly matters in life.
The final line of the song displays exactly what makes the Cash version superior:
“If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself. I would find a way.”
When Reznor sings this line, he is still a young man; if he truly wanted to ‘start again’, he could. This is why the song comes off as whiny; it’s a hopeless song written by someone who still has hope but is too blind to see it. When Cash sings the line, it is too late for him to ‘start again’; he’s old and he’s dying. He can’t start again. In Reznor’s hands, the song is a suicide note; in Johnny’s, it’s a last will and testament.
Trent Reznor's "Hurt"
Johnny Cash's "Hurt"
A few years back, Nine Inch Nails’ Industrial-aggro-ballad "Hurt" became an unlikely swan song for Johnny Cash. Without changing a single word, Cash managed to take what many had seen as a whiny, self-pitying tune written by Trent Reznor at the height of his popularity and transform it into something far more poignant.
Sometimes, a performer is able to completely change the meaning of a song simply by being who they are. Cash changes very little in the arrangement of the song other than removing the percussion. Most of what he brings to the table is his voice; instead of Reznor’s nasal whine we get Cashes distinctive baritone, a little worse for wear due to his declining health, which brings a level of authority to the lyrics that Reznor just isn’t capable. As the Who once said “It’s the singer not the song, that makes the music move along.”
Reznor’s lyrics are completely transformed in his hands and take on whole new meanings that Reznor couldn’t have even imagined when he wrote them.
“The Needle tears a hole, that old familiar sting. Try to kill it all away but I remember everything.”
When a Gen X musician sings about a “needle” in the mid 90s, he is obviously singing about heroin addiction. When Cash sings it, it could be about his own battles with addiction, but it also conjures images of a sick, old man in a hospital having to undergo IV after IV. Also, when Reznor sings “I remember everything” he’s talking about a couple of decades; Cash is singing about a lifetime.
“Everyone I know goes away in the end.”
Keeping with the theme of addiction, the Nine Inch Nails version is obviously Reznor feeling sorry for himself. Everyone “goes away” because he, and more specifically his addiction, pushes them away. For Cash, they go away because he’s old and all of his old buddies are dying (Waylon Jennings passed about a year or so before his recording of the song). Again, Reznor’s problem is preventable; he can stop if he really wants. Cash’s problem is, however, inevitable; as you get older people you know will die.
The chorus provides another excellent example, when Reznor Sings “You can have it all, my empire of dirt,” he is singing of an ‘empire’ that is, at best, a few years old and, since that empire was built by a man best known for writing a song with the chorus “I wanna fuck you like an animal”, there are many who would, indeed, classify it as one made of “dirt.” However, when Cash sings the same line, he is coming from the perspective of a legendary musician with a legacy a half-century old. For him to call his empire ‘dirt’ is a much more powerful statement of a man who has a greater perspective on what truly matters in life.
The final line of the song displays exactly what makes the Cash version superior:
“If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself. I would find a way.”
When Reznor sings this line, he is still a young man; if he truly wanted to ‘start again’, he could. This is why the song comes off as whiny; it’s a hopeless song written by someone who still has hope but is too blind to see it. When Cash sings the line, it is too late for him to ‘start again’; he’s old and he’s dying. He can’t start again. In Reznor’s hands, the song is a suicide note; in Johnny’s, it’s a last will and testament.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Young@Heart, and the Power of Clips (Commonplace Book)
Young@Heart, a new movie in theaters now -- and which I have not seen -- is a documentary by Don Argott about Bob Silmans's weird project to teach a choir of senior citizens songs by Sonic Youth, Coldplay, and the Ramons. Stephen Walker reviewed the film for the AV Club and wrote this:
Argott unwisely maintains a respectful distance from him and avoids asking tough questions, like whether teaching confused seniors a Sonic Youth song is broadening their horizons, or imposing his own arty taste on folks who'd rather sing the Irving Berlin songbook. Argott similarly stumbles in including homemade Young At Heart "music videos" that come off as cheesy and condescending instead of cheeky and irreverent. Which is a shame, because there's a wealth of great material here, especially a shattering performance of Coldplay's "Fix You" by a soulful mountain of a man named Fred Knittle. In this transcendent, goosebump-inducing moment, the facile gimmick of senior citizens performing the music of their grandchildren's generation disappears, giving way to something truer and more profound: a great singer connecting on a primal level with the heart of a terrific song. It's a wonderful sequence that deserves to be in a deeper, better film.
Trolling around on YouTube confirms Walker's opinion: most of the videos are cheesy and condescending (especially "I Wanna be Sedated"), and there are seeds of a better film in the cover of Fix You (though I am not sure I would go as far as Walker in his estimation of it). I will not bore you with the lesser clips, or the trailer for the film, which you can find on your own anyway if you are so inclined, but I do want to add to the commonplace book this week "Fix You"
I am becoming interested in clips. I did not see Be Kind Rewind because I bet the reviews are right and that Gondry is not much of a storyteller; but I still watch the trailer occasionally because it is really fun. I think I may have bought Death Proof because I like the final 18 minutes. I bet the YouTube clip of Fix You is all I will ever need from Young@Heart. There is so many gems hiding in the mediocre stuff and YouTube and the like has the ability to sever it from the whole in what could really be a powerful way. Or does everyone already know this, and I am the last one to be leaving the sinking ship called aesthetic integrity?
Examples from your own experiences?
Argott unwisely maintains a respectful distance from him and avoids asking tough questions, like whether teaching confused seniors a Sonic Youth song is broadening their horizons, or imposing his own arty taste on folks who'd rather sing the Irving Berlin songbook. Argott similarly stumbles in including homemade Young At Heart "music videos" that come off as cheesy and condescending instead of cheeky and irreverent. Which is a shame, because there's a wealth of great material here, especially a shattering performance of Coldplay's "Fix You" by a soulful mountain of a man named Fred Knittle. In this transcendent, goosebump-inducing moment, the facile gimmick of senior citizens performing the music of their grandchildren's generation disappears, giving way to something truer and more profound: a great singer connecting on a primal level with the heart of a terrific song. It's a wonderful sequence that deserves to be in a deeper, better film.
Trolling around on YouTube confirms Walker's opinion: most of the videos are cheesy and condescending (especially "I Wanna be Sedated"), and there are seeds of a better film in the cover of Fix You (though I am not sure I would go as far as Walker in his estimation of it). I will not bore you with the lesser clips, or the trailer for the film, which you can find on your own anyway if you are so inclined, but I do want to add to the commonplace book this week "Fix You"
I am becoming interested in clips. I did not see Be Kind Rewind because I bet the reviews are right and that Gondry is not much of a storyteller; but I still watch the trailer occasionally because it is really fun. I think I may have bought Death Proof because I like the final 18 minutes. I bet the YouTube clip of Fix You is all I will ever need from Young@Heart. There is so many gems hiding in the mediocre stuff and YouTube and the like has the ability to sever it from the whole in what could really be a powerful way. Or does everyone already know this, and I am the last one to be leaving the sinking ship called aesthetic integrity?
Examples from your own experiences?
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