Originals vs Covers – 1

This has nothing to do with music, unless ice on trees is musical in some way

Originals vs Covers

I’m going to jump right in with the minimum of fuss and without a long-winded, read “detailed”, preamble into the the series “Originals vs Covers”. But first, I need to back up and tell you a little bit of how this came about, heh heh!

There I was, on FB, the only social media vice I have, telling people how I, a hippie music fan, had tried playing along with a song called “I Want it That Way” by The Backstreet Boys.

Old timers on this blog, all three of you, will be either

  • Aghast
  • Highly amused
  • Shell-shocked
  • Confused
  • Bored
  • Rolling your eyes
  • Sighing deeply
  • Cracking open that bottle of Jack Daniels and taking long draughts
  • Resigned to your fate because you sort of know where this is going and you’re here, you’re used to be led up the path but, of course, you…want…it…that way!

But! You say, tell me why!

Why?

Indeed, we should explore that why. I was taught early in life to always ask why. Then at work I was told that was great in theory, but you should stop actually asking high-ranking officials with the power of the high, low and medium end-of-year bonuses such questions.

Nevertheless, I, being, ancient, and a Grampa Grumps if ever there was one, am here. At leisure. (See above!)

So then! (or as my Resource Studies professor in University used to say in Hinglish – “Ab now”, which if you learned your Hinglish lessons is a tautology in two languages), why are we here and what the hell do I mean by going on when I promised to stay away from a long preamble?

Patience is a virtue. I have loads of it and you’re still reading, so congratulate yourself! You have, too!

So that post, ^^ there, see BackStreet Boys thing up there, triggered a response from Kirsten who blogs here and you should absolutely read what she says. Go do it now – hang on! Bookmark it! You’re not done here yet!

She pointed out that she sings along with “Chin Chin Choo”, the version that comes up at the end of the movie Bollywood Hollywood (or vice versa).

I provided her the original, which she hadn’t heard before, and it made me think – there are so many songs that have been covered by other artists. Why should I not write a series about Cover versions versus the Originals? And thus this will be in 3 parts (or 4, because this one only introduces the topic and thus you’ll have to come by again to see the actual content), which will cover the following.

  1. Covers are worse than Originals (C<O)
  2. Covers are better than Originals (C>O)
  3. Covers that are equal to Originals (C=O)

I posited this view and it was

Bookmark them both! After you’re done here, (after!) you must visit those 3 bookmarked sites.

All this happened a couple of days ago, so you can see how quickly I have reacted! I must be getting old and/or bored.

Definitions

We need to define originals a bit. This is because some songs are revamps of traditional tunes and songs, some where the song has kicked around for a few years with different versions before the commonly standardized version came along. In my usual fashion, I shall do some research to find the original, definitive version.

Covers are replicas of the original. Bear in mind that in a few cases, the cover artists sometimes add/modify a verse. Be that as it may, whatever that means, we shall continue on our merry way and do our comparative analysis.

Reasons, may or may not be subjective, by which I mean, the sole judge and jury in deciding which is better is Me, Myself and Me Alone. Any differences in opinion will be sent for arbitration to a panel consisting of Me, Myself and Me Alone, joined by The SloMan, The PeevedPunjabi, The LastWord and LeggieLefty, with Unclejee presiding. This also applies in the case of deciding what is the original.

There we have it!

Stay tuned…. heh heh!

We shall meet anon at Phillipi or this blog.

See ya soon, in other words.

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This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Chakra Incognita

    Love this – nice laugh before going off to bed. Thanks for the link to my blog