Yesterday Once More

5 Aug 2014

Covers

Hi Listeners,

This week we are presenting an interesting theme – ‘Covers’. A cover song is ‘a new performance or recording of a previously recorded, commercially released, song by someone other than the original artist’. In the fifties it was common for different versions of the same song to be released by different singers of the day. These different versions could often be seen at the same time on the charts. A good example of this was the hugely popular song ‘Volare in 1958, originally recorded in Italian by its composer Domenico Modugno, but covered eagerly by Dean Martin, Bobby Rydell and the Maguire Sisters.

Covers come in many guises – a direct ‘pinch’ of the original song (arrangement and all) such as The Truth’s cover of the Beatles song ‘Girl’ or The Spinners cover of the Four Seasons hit ‘Walkin’ My Way Back To You’ or Ray Brown’s “in The Midnight Hour’. Different arrangements of the original can also be found in covers – such as speeding up the tempo or slowing down the tempo or changing the style of the song.

Two examples of this are John Farnham’s great cover of the Beatles song ‘Help’ which brought him international acclaim and Vanilla Fudge’s heavy rendition of the original Supremes song ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’ or Conway Twitty’s up tempo rock version of Nat King Cole’s balled ‘Mona Lisa’. In the hands of a master, the cover can totally transcend the original song such as the great Ray Charles’ cover version of the Don Gibson song ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’.

So sit back and enjoy ‘Covers’

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