Just heard Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes.” Simple. Sweet. It sounded like Bright Eyes or stripped down Death Cab for Cutie…Took a minute for me to realize what I was hearing.
I have had an MP3 of Hole doing this song live in the early 1990’s for several years, and it’s one of my favorite songs.
Songs like this are the epitome of why covers can be the best songs. If the bones are strong, the muscles can be stretched in so many directions. The eyes Lou Reed are lingering on are certainly not the same as Courtney Love. He “lingers on” and she “lingeeeeeeers OOOOOOOONNN” until her throat is raw.
He’s cute and she’s crazy. He romantic. She frantic. Which is weird since he’s on speed and she heroin. Just sayin’.
Yet they are both so phenomenal. I am thankful when I get to experience great songwriting…the kind that lets you hear songs in new ways. It’s a testament to the songwriter, but also the performers who recognize the potential of a piece of music and broaden it. While collage and digital design allow for room to tweak a piece of art into something new, those are more manipulative mediums. They rarely make you see multiple facets of the original in new ways. They add layers, possibly colors, possibly quotes or braces on the Mona Lisa.
Songs are different. Covers aren’t adding to, they’re stretching out, allowing the ear to hear the same thing it’s already heard in the original (be that chord progression or tone, and, of course, lyrics) but to also hear something new. And more importantly, or perhaps more momentous, to feel something new.
Most great bands cover songs without copying them. From Nirvana doing Leadbelly & David Bowie, to Ryan Adams doing Oasis, it’s striking when done well.
Some of my favorite covers:
“Hallelujah” (bones provided by Leonard Cohen, flesh by Jeff Buckley, kd lang)
“Long Black Veil” (bones by Danny Dill & Marijohn Wilkin, flesh by The Chieftans/Mick Jagger, Ralph Stanley, and Social Distortion)
“Lost Highway” (bones by Hank Williams, flesh by Tom Petty, Jeff Buckley)
