Re: [Harp-L] Coltrane/Afro Blue

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

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 Beyoncé 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
>
> _______________________________________________
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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
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