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Infuriating Cover Songs
- Thread starter BarfanyShart
- Start date
To each there own but I don't think you'll get too many people agreeing with you regarding Sade. I get it though. Adele has sold millions of albums and concert tickets but I personally can not stand one single note out of her.
I once tried out for a band whose BL gave me a list of 8 songs to learn a few days prior.
Five of 'em were pretty simple and easy. I just had to learn 'em.
Three of 'em featured James Jamerson on the original recording. To my ear: constant sophistication and nuance from beginning to end of those tunes.
I worked on 'em all, over and over.
At the audition, I treated those Jamerson parts like rocket science.
I probably came across as trying too hard, poker face and all.
It turned out that the BL did not want any nuance. Root notes throughout all eight songs would have worked great for that guy, if I'd just got every change on time.
He chose another bassist.
One year later, that band had achieved some fame, including hundreds of thousands of downloads of its originals.
Five of 'em were pretty simple and easy. I just had to learn 'em.
Three of 'em featured James Jamerson on the original recording. To my ear: constant sophistication and nuance from beginning to end of those tunes.
I worked on 'em all, over and over.
At the audition, I treated those Jamerson parts like rocket science.
I probably came across as trying too hard, poker face and all.
It turned out that the BL did not want any nuance. Root notes throughout all eight songs would have worked great for that guy, if I'd just got every change on time.
He chose another bassist.
One year later, that band had achieved some fame, including hundreds of thousands of downloads of its originals.
I actually like the phrasing and tempo of the counting crows one better
The "ooh bop bop" needs to take a flying leap though.
I'm laughing.
Umm, might want to turn that statement around, Taylor Swift sounds like Joni Mitchell. Swift wasn't even born yet when Joni did Big Yellow Taxi. A bit hard for Joni to sound like someone not even born.
OK, how about this. She sounds no better than Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift sounds as good as her. There's nothing amazing about the original, so the cover being "meh" isn't a big deal.
Yeah, that sounds better! Good job! But........ya forgot to put in the acronym IMO after, "There's nothing amazing about the original IMO........."
Hey two fingers, I'm joking ya! You know that I hope.
I like Joni's Big Yellow Taxi! Kind of one of the first "hug a tree" type songs. 1969ish.
Joni Mitchell on 'The Johnny Cash Show' in 1969
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There was something in the air in 1970 — and songwriters did not like it. The year produced a stream of environmental protest songs, all of which have proved sustainable. "Apeman" by The Kinks, Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" and Cat Stevens' "Where Do the Children Play?" all captured the mood of ecological concern.
The most renewable of all, however, has been Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi", which has become the indisputable environmental anthem. According to Mitchell's own website, at least 456 artists have recorded the song, and since 1990 someone has recorded it virtually every year. She herself has recorded it three times, the second, live version in 1974 proving a bigger hit than the original.
There were specific reasons for environmental angst at the time. A massive oil spill off Santa Barbara, California, in 1969, then the worst in American history, caused widespread shock and outrage. The oil platform explosion, which released some 3m gallons of crude in a 35-mile slick along the Pacific coast, proved formative in the birth of the modern environmental movement.
The year also included the sight of the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River in Ohio catching fire, with the flames soaring five storeys high as oil and chemical waste slicks were ignited by sparks from a passing train. This prompted the US Congress to pass the The National Environmental Policy Act in 1970.
Mitchell's inspiration for her song came from a 1969 trip to Hawaii. "I walked over to the [hotel room] balcony and there was the picture-book scenery, palm trees swaying in the breeze and all," she told New Musical Express. "When I looked down… there below my view was this ugly, concrete car park on the hotel grounds."
This gave her an unforgettable chorus, which has been a nagging reminder to humanity ever since. "Don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you've got till it's gone / They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
She was also struck by Honolulu's "tree museum", which "charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em", as the second verse relates. This was a reference to the island's Foster Botanical Garden and its tree collection.
The song's genius lies in the joyful, jaunty rhythm of Mitchell's acoustic guitar and delightful melody being at odds with the sombre lyrics. This contrast is compounded by her brief, playful bass vocal and giggle at the end.
The last verse poignantly presses the message of taking precious things for granted, as it switches from the political to the personal. "Late last night I heard the screen door slam / And a big yellow taxi took away my old man."
The myriad cover versions have included a variety of musical styles from artists on all rungs of the celebrity ladder. Bob Dylan produced a laboured, word-mangling effort in 1973 on the album Dylan. In fairness, the record comprised several outtakes released by Columbia without his authorisation after he had left the record company.
California band Pinhead Gunpowder provided a high-speed punk rendition in 1992, and Big Country's rock version four years later infused it with eastern-sounding violin and percussion. Counting Crows had an international hit with the song after first recording it in 2002, and re-recorded it for the soundtrack of the 2006 film Two Weeks.
Inflation made artists tinker with the lyrics over the years. Amy Grant swapped "a dollar and a half" for "25 bucks just to see 'em" in 1994, and Mitchell herself made it "an arm and a leg" on her 2007 version on the album Shine. This was a jazzier, more reflective interpretation that also suited her ageing, deeper voice.
Over the decades "Big Yellow Taxi" has remained a "go to" tune for environmental radio and television programmes. With climate change now the planet's existential challenge, the song looks set to keep ringing out for teenage campaigner Greta Thunberg's generation and beyond.
Are bassists allowed to rag on Joni Mitchell, as good as she's been to us?
If you're a GOF you'll probably remember (and cringe at) "Mrs. Miller".
I'm confused by the title. Is this thread about songs you hate being covered by live bands or songs that were covered by successful bands that you hate? I'll answer both.
I hate it when live bands cover "Sweet Caroline" and "Brown Eyed Girl", absolutely bland mayonnaise music.
I can't stand System of a Down's cover of "Snowblind".
I hate it when live bands cover "Sweet Caroline" and "Brown Eyed Girl", absolutely bland mayonnaise music.
I can't stand System of a Down's cover of "Snowblind".
I suppose successful recordings of cover tunes that cause anger. The Big Yellow Taxi example is frustrating because there is something interesting about that song, but everybody who covers it does it so vanilla that it comes out lame and dated - to the point that it actually degrades the original in my mind.
Not to belabor this but, I actually like the poppy Counting Crows version better.
Yes exactly. Darius sang "Hey Hey What Can I do" on a Led Zep tribute album some years back. Totally soulless and monotone. He's good at what he does but he shouldn't venture outside of that.
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