<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Cover Me <\/span><\/i>is the name of an album we received a while ago from two time vets of the Porcupine Mountain Music Festival, Jimi and the Band of Souls. \u00a0It is a collection of songs written by others but interpreted by the Band of Souls. It just so happens that it is also the title of a book by Ray Padgett (<\/span>Cover Me – The stories behind the greatest cover songs of all time<\/span><\/i> – 2017 – Sterling). \u00a0Padgett founded the blog of the same name in 2007 and it laid the framework for this New Yorker\u2019s expansive thesis on the subject of cover songs. \u00a0He also works as a senior music publicist for Shore Fire Media and in that capacity has worked with artists like Ben Harper, Lana Del Rey, and Maxwell.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Artists pull out an album of covers for various reasons. \u00a0Sometimes a cover album is a tribute to a genre or songwriter the artist admires. \u00a0If it has been too long between releases or they are drawing blanks in the writing department, artists may pull out an album of covers to buy some time. \u00a0Probably the worst reason is the \u2018escape\u2019 album: an artist may owe their label one more record and they can get out from under their contract by banging together a quick album of covers. \u00a0Whatever the motivation, the modern definition of a \u2018cover\u2019 is a song that has been redone by someone (or many someones) other than the original artist. The roots of the term have a couple of much different meanings if one goes back to the period bookending World War II. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Going back to the time just before World War II, sheet music was the preferred mode of disseminating popular music. \u00a0A song was \u2018covered\u2019 by anyone who played it and the songwriters made their living based on how many paper copies sold. \u00a0When the record industry was still in its infancy (say the 1930s and 1940s), people bought records according to the title of the song. \u00a0If a song became a big seller, multiple record labels would push out disks of their own artists doing the same song. Stores would typically sell the same song performed by more than one artist and the record buying public was happy. \u00a0In the early days, the singers took a back seat to the song.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Padgett points out that the first official use ot the phrase \u2018cover song\u2019 was published in a 1949 issue of that old war horse music trade magazine <\/span>Billboard.<\/span><\/i> \u00a0The article in question was focused on a popular country-music hit when it said, \u201cThe original disking of <\/span>Why Don\u2019t You Haul Off and Love Me<\/span><\/i> cut for King (records) by Wayne Raney, has hit 250,000 (copies sold), and versions are now available on all major labels.\u201d \u00a0The meaning is clear: Raney\u2019s version drew enough buyers to encourage other labels to get the song out under their imprint. The <\/span>Billboard<\/span><\/i> piece continues, \u201cAnother King disk, <\/span>Blues Stay \u2018Way From Me?, <\/span><\/i>by the Delmore Brothers, is close to 125,000 in six weeks, and the other companies have just begun to cover the tune.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Interestingly enough, Padgett goes on to explain there are several meanings attached to the word \u2018cover\u2019, any one of which could work. \u00a0In some cases, record labels would rush out copycat recordings of popular tunes to hoodwink buyers into purchasing their versions, making this type of cover a bit of a scam. \u00a0Some believe the term was derived from the practice of stocking copycat versions in front of items on display, thus \u2018covering\u2019 the original disks on sale. Some take it to mean that by putting out versions of popular songs, the labels were \u2018covering their bets\u2019 that the song would be a big seller for them, also. \u00a0Artists and Repertoire (A&R) men, when asked if their label was going to put out their own version of a popular song, would reply, \u201cWe\u2019ve got it covered\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Modern day artists also have different interpretations of not only the term, but of the practice of recording \u2018covers\u2019. \u00a0The late Prince told George Lopez in 2011, \u201cI don\u2019t mind fans singing the songs, my problem is when the industry covers the music. \u00a0You see, covering the music means your version doesn\u2019t exist anymore.\u201d In 2004, <\/span>American Pie<\/span><\/i> writer Don McLean took umbrage to the way the term is used when he posted the following on his website: \u00a0\u201cThe word \u2018cover\u2019 is now used by music fans incorrectly. They use it to describe any attempt by an artist to perform old songs or previously recorded material. \u00a0The use of this term gives them a bit of authority since it makes them sound like they are in the music business. They are in fact ignorant of what a cover version of a song really is. \u00a0Back in the days of black radio stations and white radio stations (i.e., segregation), if a black act had a hot record, the white kids would find out and want to hear it on \u2018their\u2019 radio station. \u00a0This would prompt the record company to bring a white act into the recording studio and cut an exact, but white, version of the song to give to the white radio stations to play and thus keep the black act where it belonged: \u00a0on black radio. A \u2018cover\u2019 version of a song is a racist tool. It is NOT a term intended to be used to describe a valid interpretation of an old song\u2026Madonna did not \u2018cover\u2019 <\/span>American Pie; <\/span><\/i>she just sang an old song and made an old songwriter mighty happy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0McLean\u2019s historical definition is by no any means incorrect, but by today\u2019s standards \u2018cover\u2019 no longer applies as a \u2018racist tool\u2019. \u00a0Record companies called the category McLean is talking about \u2018Race Records\u2019 in the period before WWII, a term eventually replaced by \u2018Rhythm & Blues\u2019. \u00a0Certainly what he says about \u2018black radio\u2019 and \u2018white radio\u2019 is historically true. One only needs to find Pat Boone\u2019s version of Little Richard\u2019s <\/span>Tutti Fruitti<\/span><\/i> to be reminded how many songs by black artists were introduced to white audiences this way (hopefully spurring them to find the original artist\u2019s superior versions). \u00a0It also doesn\u2019t hurt to mention that labels catering to black record buyers were not beyond reversing the flow of songs in their direction. Remember the first \u2018cover\u2019? \u00a0Wayne Raney was most decidedly a white artist and his <\/span>Why Don\u2019t You Haul Off and Love Me <\/span><\/i>may have been covered by other white artists, but the version that charted in the Race Records category was the cover done by Bull Moose Jackson.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I also couldn\u2019t help notice McLean\u2019s comment that Madonna\u2019s version of <\/span>American Pie<\/span><\/i> had, \u201cmade an old songwriter mighty happy.\u201d \u00a0Whether he agrees with the modern interpretation of the term or not, \u2018covers\u2019 also translate into dollar signs for the songwriter. \u00a0Prince\u2019s complaint about having his songs covered meant, \u201ccovering the music means your version doesn\u2019t exist any more,\u201d yet he reportedly loved Sinead O\u2019Connor\u2019s cover of <\/span>Nothing Compares 2 U. \u00a0<\/span><\/i>I am willing to bet that he was perfectly happy with the royalties he received from her version, just as the Beatles were prompted to send Joe Cocker a thank-you note for covering their <\/span>Sgt. Pepper\u2019s <\/span><\/i>track <\/span>With a Little Help From My Friends<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0Mick Jagger is said to have danced around the room when Devo played him their first release, a decidedly disjointed version of <\/span>Satisfaction.<\/span><\/i> \u00a0Let us not forget that Jagger and the Stones started out covering American R&B artists and Jagger himself was not beyond recording the occasional cover (see <\/span>Dancing in the Streets<\/span><\/i> done with his pal, David Bowie). \u00a0McLean\u2019s historical lecture aside, the modern definition of a \u2018cover\u2019 has been refined to reflect artists reinterpreting songs rather than doing direct copycat versions just to make the record labels happy. \u00a0In the movie biz, rebooting old movies is an accepted practice and could be viewed as the cinematic version of doing a \u2018cover\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Padgett would have had a hard time compiling a coherent list of all the cover songs that have been issued even if he limited himself to one or two decades or just the rock and roll era. \u00a0Wisely, he digs into the back stories of nineteen tracks that, when examined closely, tell a story about cover songs rather than trying to tell the story of all cover songs. The previously mentioned Joe Cocker provides a classic example of what Padgett is trying to tell his readers.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Joe Cocker was a working musician struggling to make a living long before Woodstock and John Belushi\u2019s parody of Cocker\u2019s performance style that made them both big stars. \u00a0His now legendary spastic gyrations weren\u2019t the result of alcohol or substance abuse; Cocker played no instrument so he developed other ways to express himself while performing. \u00a0Legend has it that a backstage encounter with a Ouija board gave the answer, \u201cWith a little help from your friends\u201d when he asked, \u201cHow will I ever get famous.\u201d This occured before the song had even been written, but once he heard <\/span>Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/span><\/i>, if the anecdote is true, it surely would have come back to him. \u00a0Cocker further explained that he was contemplating things while using their outdoor toilet (remember, this was Sheffield, England in the late 1960s) when he had an epiphany about how he wanted to perform the track. \u00a0Taking inspiration from Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, he envisioned a near gospel take on the song replete with a \u2018chorus of black girls doing a call and answer\u2019 during the song\u2019s chorus.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Once record producers Denny Cordell and Tony Visconti heard Cocker perform the song live, they knew that they had to get it on tape. \u00a0Unhappy with the sound of the \u2018chorus of black girls\u2019 used to record the track, Cordell set off to all four ends of America to find the right blend of voices to use on the track. \u00a0After a month of this expensive nonsense, the studio\u2019s money men instructed Visconti to use the original track (substandard \u2018chorus of black girls\u2019 and all) and put the record out. \u00a0It went to the top of the charts and Visconti was sure that Cordell would come home and fire him for his little act of insurrection. It turned out that Cordell was relieved that the record was finally done.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Having topped the charts in the U.K. in October of 1968, Cocker had indeed made the Ouija board prophecy come true. \u00a0The Beatles were so thrilled with it they let him record <\/span>She Came in Through the Bathroom Window<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Something<\/span><\/i> before they released their own versions on <\/span>Abbey Road. \u00a0<\/span><\/i>The Woodstock Festival didn\u2019t resonate with Cocker as an epic gig, but when the <\/span>Woodstock <\/span><\/i>film hit the theaters in 1970, Cocker\u2019s segment got everyone\u2019s attention. \u00a0He may not have been a gifted songwriter, but he turned his ability to do ear-catching covers of other people\u2019s songs into a memorable career. \u00a0Having the track picked up as the theme song for <\/span>The Wonder Years<\/span><\/i> in 1988 brought another resurgence of interest in Joe Cocker. \u00a0He was pragmatic about the whole process: \u201cIn a lot of these songs I\u2019m not trying to top the original, \u2018cause you can\u2019t. \u00a0I\u2019m just trying to give them some new life.\u201d When he died in 2014, Paul McCartney remembered sitting with Cocker and Cordell listening to the playback (of <\/span>Friends<\/span><\/i>) at the studio on Saville Row; \u201cIt was just mind-blowing, totally turned the song into a soul anthem, and I was forever grateful to him for doing that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not all artists embrace their covers, even if they became hits. \u00a0The Who recorded Eddie Cochran\u2019s 1958 hit <\/span>Summertime Blues<\/span><\/i> but never got a good enough take to release it on record. \u00a0Needing a filler album to take up the space between their ground breaking <\/span>Tommy<\/span><\/i> album and the record that would end up being called <\/span>Who\u2019s Next, <\/span><\/i>Pete Townsend and company decided a live album would do the trick. \u00a0They recorded countless shows on tour but in the end, burned the tapes as no one wanted to sit and listen to hundreds of hours of music to pick the best tracks. \u00a0They also burned the tapes so they wouldn\u2019t end up as bootlegged albums. Given two more shots to get a live album, they recorded the tour\u2019s last two shows. The one at Hull University had problems with the bass track so they were more or less forced to use the tapes from their show at Leeds University. \u00a0Of the three covers on the album, <\/span>Summertime Blues<\/span><\/i> was released as a single and shot up the charts. \u00a0Today, Townsend refuses to play the song because it wasn\u2019t written by The Who.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One day near the end of my junior year in high school, guitarist John Spratto from The French Church stopped me in the hall and said \u201cListen to The Who\u2019s <\/span>Live at Leeds<\/span><\/i>! \u00a0It is the best live album ever.\u201d \u00a0We listened, agreed with him, and The Twig promptly covered <\/span>Summertime Blues <\/span><\/i>because we were, after all, a covers band.\u00a0 \u00a0We also injected a fair amount from another cover of the tune by the American power trio Blue Cheer.\u00a0 Maybe Pete Townshend won\u2019t play it live any more, but I would if anybody asked!<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 The Who rock\u00a0Summertime Blues<\/em> in 1969.