Friday, June 5, 2009

A good cover is a terrible thing to waste

I love covers.

Well, scratch that, I love good covers. "But Kurtis, what makes a good cover?" Ill tell you! When you can hear the original only after you peel back the layers of sound of the band that covered it, I think youve got yourself a good cover. When you dont know right away that the song isnt one that the band wrote themselves, in other words, because theyve taken it and made it their own. An example of a bad cover, and one that Im subjected to on a regular basis (yes at work) is the 'American Woman' cover by Lenny Kravitz. It doesnt help that the original is a rather anti-American tune written by some stinking Canadians, or that Lenny Kravitz is just terrible, but in order to know a good one you have to know a bad one. I wont even bother posting the bad one as its a waste of both time and space. I will, however, post a good one. Im sure Ive shown most of you this already sans the original, so Ill post both. So sit back, relax, and put your socks on tight as theyre about to be rocked off.

The original is 'Death Letter' by our good friend Son House:


The cover is by none other than The White Stripes (who else?!):

No comments: