Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!hao!seismo!brl-tgr!tgr!PawkaFrom: Pawka Newsgroups: net.music Subject: Re: Cover Versions Message-ID: <6251@brl-tgr.ARPA> Date: Fri, 30-Nov-84 17:57:07 EST Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.6251 Posted: Fri Nov 30 17:57:07 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 4-Dec-84 05:13:06 EST Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA Organization: Ballistic Research Lab Lines: 30 >> Dave ?Axler? resonds "... a cover version is, to wit, a re-make >> of any song originally recorded by another artist, no matter how >> good or bad the remake may be..." >> and "...Fame and fortune are totally irrelevant to whether or not >> a song's a cover version -- all that matters is whether or not >> it's the original..." I believe the origin of the term "cover" version had to do with early R&B tunes which were performed by black artists and played mostly on "underground" stations in the late forties and early fifties. A good example would be "Hound Dog" by Elvis. Most people associate that song with Elvis and might be surprised to know "Big Mama" Thornton wrote and sung that tune, as she did with "Ball and Chain", later successfully covered by Janis Joplin. Maybe the term has something with one of the definitions of cover, "to put something over or upon for concealment". Anyone can do "their version" or a "re-make" of a tune, but I think that a "cover version" implies more. This is not to imply that the "cover" version is not done well, in a lot of cases it may be as good or better than the original. This may seem to be just semantics, but to me it's giving some artists too much credit. (Here's the Dead Meat Puppets with their "cover version" of Johnny B. Goode . . .) Anyway I would be interested in Dave's references, in the meantime I'm going to try to dig out the books where I read all this, Mike < Wrongo ???> ------