Rewriting covers

[Charlie Bernstein]

A lot of my songwriting energy goes into making covers mine.

I'm just an old folkie at heart, so for me it's just a natural part of the so-called folk process. Words, pace, chords, melodies, arrangements, instruments — it's open season on all of 'em.

Sometimes I'll just do some little tweaks or throw in a jam section, but usually I roll it into the garage for a bumper-to-bumper overhall. Once in a while you'd hardly know it was the same song — like what Zep and Cream used to do with old blues tunes.

For me, it's an entertaining way to grow my repertoire, and audiences seem to like it.

How about you? Is regrooving other people's songs a big part of your writing? Is it as much fun as coming up with orignals?

 

[schmee]

Arrangements matter, and yeah, we kinda specialize in doing unique arrangements on some songs.
There are plenty of cover songs done better after the original hit. It's rare to go to a concert and even hear the original hit maker do it like the original. Songs evolve over time, especially if you have to play it hundreds of times!

 

[Bendyha]

I've re-written a lot of songs for my band. It is actually a hell of a lot of fun, I find. Personalizing the texts to match my feelings, experiences, politics and locality, changing references to geographical, historical, or other peoples lives.

When our band started out about 25 years ago, the one guitarist wanted to do a bunch of ZZ Top numbers, which for me as the singer, was not going to happen without new texts. Some of the songs we still play, but the band has now so taken the tunes to be our own in the arrangement, that the original would be hard to guess for most listeners.

Sometimes I will rewrite a song text, and present it to the band, not telling them what the inspiration was, and we work out a whole new melody for it. Other times I will just write an additional verse or two for a song, to drop a repeated verse in the original.

 

[chulaivet1966]

For me, it's an entertaining way to grow my repertoire, and audiences seem to like it.

How about you? Is regrooving other people's songs a big part of your writing? Is it as much fun as coming up with originals?

Howdy CB....

Me....no.
I've never had that desire but I can see why many do (your 1st sentence above).
If I do play a cover (like my YT play-along vids) I prefer to stay true to the original although not with any note for note obsession.
In my live band (1970-1980) days we employed the same approach.

Originals are 'fun' but much harder.

Carry on....

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Arrangements matter, and yeah, we kinda specialize in doing unique arrangements on some songs.
There are plenty of cover songs done better after the original hit. It's rare to go to a concert and even hear the original hit maker do it like the original. Songs evolve over time, especially if you have to play it hundreds of times!

Yup! Like I say, the folk process.

I've re-written a lot of songs for my band. It is actually a hell of a lot of fun, I find. Personalizing the texts to match my feelings, experiences, politics and locality, changing references to geographical, historical, or other peoples lives.

When our band started out about 25 years ago, the one guitarist wanted to do a bunch of ZZ Top numbers, which for me as the singer, was not going to happen without new texts. Some of the songs we still play, but the band has now so taken the tunes to be our own in the arrangement, that the original would be hard to guess for most listeners.

Sometimes I will rewrite a song text, and present it to the band, not telling them what the inspiration was, and we work out a whole new melody for it. Other times I will just write an additional verse or two for a song, to drop a repeated verse in the original.

Yup, I do the additional verse thing sometimes, too.

I added this to verse to "Shaky Ground":

An earthquake is tearing up the front yard,
a volcano is coming up in back,
fissures are busting are busting up my basement,
and it's all your fault my world's begun to crack!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Howdy CB....

Me....no.
I've never had that desire but I can see why many do (your 1st sentence above).
If I do play a cover (like my YT play-along vids) I prefer to stay true to the original although not with any note for note obsession.
In my live band (1970-1980) days we employed the same approach.

Originals are 'fun' but much harder.

Carry on....

I get it when people do faithful reproductions. I have friends who are good at it, and they're fun to listen to.

But it's just not my talent. I'll never sound as good as the record, no matter what the record is. So I make 'em fit my own style instead.

Started working on "Viva, Las Vegas" yesterday. Changed some words, added some minor chords, made it more of a lament. Why try to beat the King?

I know I'll never be much of an Elvis impersonator!

One thing that really annoys me is when I suggest a song to cover and someone says, "Which version?"

OUR version!

 

[chulaivet1966]

But it's just not my talent. I'll never sound as good as the record, no matter what the record is. So I make 'em fit my own style instead.

Started working on "Viva, Las Vegas" yesterday. Changed some words, added some minor chords, made it more of a lament. Why try to beat the King?

I know I'll never be much of an Elvis impersonator!

One thing that really annoys me is when I suggest a song to cover and someone says, "Which version?"

OUR version!

Ha....

At least you have some 'talent'. (I know you have the "Talent" plug-in....must have cost you a thumb & forefinger)

Nor will I....don't feel alone.

"Viva" should be challenging quest.

Back to it....

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . "Viva" should be challenging quest. . . .

It sure is, but it's shaping up faster than I expected.

Watched the DVD of The Big Lebowski two nights ago, and (I'd forgotten) Cheryl Crowe sings it on the soundtrack. The feeling is nothing like Elvis's. Almost spiritual. I don't do spiritual, either, vocally, but I can pull off good blues, folk, country, and so-called Americana.

Plus, I'm a Doc Pomus fan. His piano-playing cousin is even a friend of mine.

"Viva" has been in the back of my head for years, but I never thought I could make good with it. Cheryl's treatment made me think: possibilities!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I've re-written a lot of songs for my band. It is actually a hell of a lot of fun, I find. Personalizing the texts to match my feelings, experiences, politics and locality, changing references to geographical, historical, or other peoples lives. . . .

'Zackly!

 

[kbold]

It's an interesting challenge sometimes to "rephrase" a song for acoustic solo.
The trick (IMO) is to make some part of the rewrite unique or stand out in some way.

 

[radtz]

Careful... Your band might kick you out for not playing the song correctly.

 

[TokyoPortrait]

Hi.

Years ago I ‘rewrote’ the song Who Do You Love by basically addressing / responding to every line.

I can’t remember it now, other than the opening line became ‘I don’t care, How far you walked,’ and ‘Who do you love’ became ‘Who are you?’ The music was a chugging thing kinda in the style of The Jean Genie.

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting approach, the whole addressing / responding thing. Don’t know why I never tried it more. I should.

Pax/
Dean

 

[TokyoPortrait]

Hi again.

Making two posts, in the interests of tl;dr

Funny thing, just yesterday I finished a home recording of a cover. Never done that before.

Wild Thing. Kept the lyrics. But the music, in A minor, is a sort of sparse, reverby, echoey thing with twangy guitar lines here and there. And the lyrics delivered in a melancholic, semi spoken verse kind of way (psst, he does that cos he can’t sing in tune…).

Sounds nothing like the original. Apart from the ending, where I’d just earlier copied and dragged two bars of drums along the grid and played something more approximate to the original, for no particular reason other than just messing around and never intending to use.

But when doing the lyrics last, I realised I’d counted wrong and was a verse and outro short. So, I dragged that earlier, ‘just messing around’ bit back closer and used it.

Pax/
Dean

 

[HootOwlDude]

I have fiddled with covers I like to play over the years for sure, and, compositionally speaking, it can be rewarding to tailor an existent song I love to fit what I can pull off best, but I have never found it nearly as rewarding as making my own song from top to bottom, especially if I think the song I made is really killer.

 

[bebopbrain]

I changed Simple Twist Of Fate to they/them pronouns, making it incomprehensible:

They sat together in the park
As the evening sky grew dark
They looked at them and they felt a spark
Tingle to their bones ...

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It's an interesting challenge sometimes to "rephrase" a song for acoustic solo.

I rewrite 'em for electric, too. I'm an equal-opportunity destroyer.

The trick (IMO) is to make some part of the rewrite unique or stand out in some way.

Yup. That's the whole point. They can stay home and listen to the original, or they can come hear what I do with it. For better and for worse.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Careful... Your band might kick you out for not playing the song correctly.

So true. When I gig, I introduce them as Leon Fullerton's version. People rarely want to ask who Leon is.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hi again.

Making two posts, in the interests of tl;dr

Funny thing, just yesterday I finished a home recording of a cover. Never done that before.

Wild Thing. Kept the lyrics. But the music, in A minor, is a sort of sparse, reverby, echoey thing with twangy guitar lines here and there. And the lyrics delivered in a melancholic, semi spoken verse kind of way (psst, he does that cos he can’t sing in tune…).

Sounds nothing like the original. Apart from the ending, where I’d just earlier copied and dragged two bars of drums along the grid and played something more approximate to the original, for no particular reason other than just messing around and never intending to use.

But when doing the lyrics last, I realised I’d counted wrong and was a verse and outro short. So, I dragged that earlier, ‘just messing around’ bit back closer and used it.

Pax/
Dean

Love your "Wild Thing" treatment. Brilliant!

Likewise, I start "Born To Be Wild" with a Mystery Train-style synchopated shuffle. Folks get a kick out of it when they realize what the song is.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I have fiddled with covers I like to play over the years for sure, and, compositionally speaking, it can be rewarding to tailor an existent song I love to fit what I can pull off best, but I have never found it nearly as rewarding as making my own song from top to bottom, especially if I think the song I made is really killer.

Yup, I hear you.

On the other hand, the way I figure it, by the time I'm through with the cover, it sometimes is my own song.

Here's an old-time nonsense tune I turned into scat and play funky Delta-style. Still recognizable, yet mine-all-mine:

Two little babies sitting in bed,
one half-alive, the other half-dead.
Send for the doctor, doctor said,
"Give those babies some short'nin' bread."

Get out the skillet! Get out the lead!
Mix up a mess o' that short'nin' bread.
Butter it up, and scarf it down,
best damn dinner in the whole damn town.

I don't care what the police said,
I'd rob a bank for that short'nin' bread.
Feelin' blue? Seein' red?
What you need's a taste of that short'nin' bread.

Collared greens, rice and beans,
holes in the pockets of my old blue jeans.
Tell Aunt Nell and Uncle Ned,
'cause they're layin' dead for some short'nin' bread.

I come home, half-past one,
ain't no tellin' what Mama done.
I go out, half-past two,
ain't no tellin' what Papa might do.

Cross my heart and hope to die,
can't get the truth from a can of lye.
Cross my eyes and hope to live,
can't get whiskey from a rusty sieve.

I don't care what the preacher said,
throw down my Bible for short'nin' bread.
Nine-Oh-Nine runnin' right on time,
it's a gol-durn shame, but it ain't no crime!

Moses standin' on the Red Sea shore
wacking that water with a two-by-four.
Up pops Pharaoh. Whatcha gonna do?
Give him a taste of home cooking, too.

[Scat scat scat scat] What I say?
[Scat scat scat scat] the whole damn day.
[Scat scat scat scat] Sing that song
[Scat scat scat scat] all night long.

Mama's little baby loves [Scat scat scat scat],
Mama's little baby loves [Scat scat scat scat].
Mama's little baby loves [Scat scat scat scat],
Mama's little baby loves [Scat scat scat scat].

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hi again.

Making two posts, in the interests of tl;dr

Funny thing, just yesterday I finished a home recording of a cover. Never done that before.

Wild Thing. Kept the lyrics. But the music, in A minor, is a sort of sparse, reverby, echoey thing with twangy guitar lines here and there. And the lyrics delivered in a melancholic, semi spoken verse kind of way (psst, he does that cos he can’t sing in tune…).

Sounds nothing like the original. Apart from the ending, where I’d just earlier copied and dragged two bars of drums along the grid and played something more approximate to the original, for no particular reason other than just messing around and never intending to use.

But when doing the lyrics last, I realised I’d counted wrong and was a verse and outro short. So, I dragged that earlier, ‘just messing around’ bit back closer and used it.

Pax/
Dean

PS -

Sorry, Dean! I meant I love your "Wild Thing" treatment. (I corrected my post above.)