Re: [Harp-L] Coltrane/Afro Blue



The accepted meaning, or perhaps I could say the application, of words
changes over the years. As I recall the  earliest use of 'cover
version', it was a music industry term applied where a performer might
have a regional hit, or a hit in a sector of the biz that was considered
'off limits' to the wider popular audience, but the song was seen to
have possibilities if 'covered' for the broader market by a more
accessible personality.
Hence groups like the Crewcuts recording 'Sh-Boom', because the
industry considered the Chords version not a  potentially commercial
release for the white market (too funky!)
Hence also Rosemary Clooney recording Hank Williams songs, Dean Martin
doing Lattie Moore etc. etc. Hence, to draw a longer bow, the Stones
doing 'Little Red Rooster' etc.
The re-recorded versions 'covered' the larger market in a way that the
regional or 'ethnic' version couldn't - or so it was believed by the
music execs. Some might say - have said - that there was unfair
discrimination involved.
In its original application, some might consider the term 'smother'
more appropriate.
I always feel that the use of the word 'cover' by a local bar band when
doing there take on a hit from the past is inappropriate. If it's a
'copy', why not call it that?
If it's just their take on an old song, then it's no different from
Louis Armstrong doing 'The Saints'; now that was just a 'cover' too,
wasn't it?
RD
(Harp content? er...happy reeding!)


>>> Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> 16/04/2009 5:36 >>>
I guess you could say that you were covering the Jimi Hendrix *version*
of a tune that happened to be a Bob Dylan composition, or covering the
Joe Cocker version of a tune that happened to be a Lennon-McCartney
composition, etc.

People tend to associate songs with versions by specific artists rather
than with other recordings or with the composer (unless all those things
happen to coincide). We know that Beyoncà is definitely referencing Etta
James in her version of "At Last" and not the version recorded by Glenn
Miller or any specific ideas about the treatment or arrangement that
might have been expressed by Mack Gordon or Harry Warren, who wrote the
tune - unless those things are reflected in the Etta James version.

Harmonica content: Look at the version of "I just want to make love to
you" that the Rolling Stones performend on the Dean Martin tv show, with
dual harmonicas played by Brian Jones. (Also note the face Martin makes
when he introduces the band, as though he thinks they're a put-on). If
some garage band in the 1960s based their version of the tune on this
perfromance, which bears little resemblance to the Muddy/Walter version,
I'd be comfortable saying that the garage band was covering the Rolling
Stones' 1965 (or whatever) version of this WIllie Dixon  tune, as
opposed to covering the Muddy version.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Wed, 4/15/09, Arthur Jennings <timeistight@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Arthur Jennings <timeistight@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Coltrane/Afro Blue
To: "George Brooks" <gbrooksvt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Harp-L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 12:07 PM

On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 10:03 AM, George Brooks
<gbrooksvt@xxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> .

.
> .
> Now to the point or, actually, the question:  If your band was doing
All
> Along The Watchtower the way Hendrix did it, would you say you were
doing
a
> cover of Jimi Hendrix or Bob Dylan?  If you were doing With A Little
Help
> From My Friends like Joe Cocker did it, would you say you were doing
a
cover
> of Joe Cocker or the Beatles?
>
> I'm big on giving songwriters credit, but that's just me.  It
bothers me
> when people performing This Masquerade say they are doing a George
Benson
> cover.  George Benson covered the song.  Leon Russell wrote and
recorded
it.
>
> George
>
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org 
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx 
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l 
>

According to Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_cover>

In popular music <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_music>, a
*cover
version*, or simply *cover*, is a new rendition
(performance<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance>or
recording <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recording>) of a previously
recorded, commercially released song.

So I would say, in your examples above, that the band was covering
Jimi
Hendrix and Joe Cocker. When Beyonce Knowles sang "At Last" at the
inauguration, she was covering Etta James, not Glenn Miller (who first
recorded it) or Mack Gordon and Harry Warren (who wrote it).

-- 
Arthur Jennings
http://www.timeistight.com 
_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org 
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx 
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l 




_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org 
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx 
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l



This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.