{"id":2197,"date":"2014-10-16T08:42:33","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T08:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.3.178\/?p=2197"},"modified":"2014-10-16T08:43:34","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T08:43:34","slug":"what-makes-the-perfect-cover-version","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/2014\/10\/16\/what-makes-the-perfect-cover-version\/","title":{"rendered":"What Makes The Perfect Cover Version? We Used Science To Find Out&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The BBC have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/articles\/3py67GKbhYL8jXbRmRMzF5Q\/bbc-music-greatest-covers-vote-for-your-favourite\">launched a vote to find the nation\u2019s favourite cover song<\/a>, with the 50 song shortlist picked by BBC DJs and music experts (you can also see what the public think by searching #GreatestCovers on Twitter).<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve already cast our vote, but the contest got us thinking: what makes a good cover version? Would it be possible to take those 50 songs and devise a formula for the <i>perfect <\/i>cover song?<\/p>\n<p>We took a look at the BBC\u2019s shortlist and considered 4 elements:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The time gap between the original and the cover<\/li>\n<li>Whether or not the cover is a different genre from the original<\/li>\n<li>The gender of the original and cover vocalists \u201d\u201c different or the same?<\/li>\n<li>Whether the original was well-known or obscure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And wouldn\u2019t you know it? We\u2019ve only gone and stumbled on the formula for <b>THE PERFECT COVER SONG! <\/b>Read on to find out what it is!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>How old should the song you cover be?<\/h4>\n<p><b>12 years <\/b>(or 11.96, to be more specific)! That\u2019s average length of time that the covers on the BBC\u2019s list were recorded after the original.<\/p>\n<p>There is a lot of variation though. 24% of the songs on the list were released less than 5 years after the original, including 5 that were released just a year later: <i>Hey Joe<\/i> and <i>All Along The Watchtower<\/i> by Jimi Hendrix, <i>With A Little Help From My Friends<\/i> by Joe Cocker, <i>Heartbeats<\/i> by Jose Gonzalez, and <i>Valerie<\/i> by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TLV4_xaYynY\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Led Zeppelin\u2019s <i>When The Levee Breaks<\/i> has the longest gap between original and cover (44 years), while Labrinth\u2019s <i>Express Yourself<\/i> comes 2<sup>nd<\/sup> with a gap of 41 years!<\/p>\n<p>So, if you\u2019re planning to record a cover, start by looking at this list of songs released in 2002!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Should you change the genre of the song?<b> <\/b><\/h4>\n<p><b>Yes! <\/b>34 of the songs in the list are a different genre to the original (68%), while just 16 are the same (32%).<\/p>\n<p>Before you run off and composing a freeform jazz cover of <i>Wrecking Ball<\/i>, however, bear in mind that most of the songs don\u2019t make <i>huge<\/i> changes \u201d\u201c keep it to a popular genre (punk is about as abrasive as the songs on the list get).<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Should you record a song by originally sung by the opposite sex?<\/h4>\n<p>Now, this one is quite difficult. The statistical answer is a resounding <b>NO<\/b>, with 34 of the songs covered by a singer of the same sex as the original vocalist.<\/p>\n<p>However, of the songs released post-2000, covers of songs originally sung by the opposite sex are <b>MORE<\/b> popular. There are 7 post-2000 covers by opposite sex vocalists on the list (including <i>Make You Feel My Love <\/i>by Adele, <i>Run <\/i>by Leona Lewis and <i>Feeling Good<\/i> by Muse) while there are just 4 same sex vocalist covers.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CmwRQqJsegw\" height=\"315\" width=\"420\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The answer depends on what you put more faith into: statistics or trends?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Should you record a well-known or obscure song?<b> <\/b><\/h4>\n<p>For the purposes of this post, a \u201d\u02dcwell-known\u2019 song is anything that charted in the top 40 singles, or appeared in a top 20 album in the US or the UK.<\/p>\n<p>Based on those criteria, you should <b>definitely cover a well-known song<\/b>. 38 of the songs on the list (a whopping 78%) qualify as well known!<\/p>\n<p>Of the 12 that weren\u2019t well known, most were recorded a couple of years after the original was written: <i>Nothing Compares 2 U<\/i> by Sinead O\u2019 Connor, <i>I Heard It Through The Grapevine <\/i>by Marvin Gaye, and <i>Heartbeats <\/i>by Jose Gonzalez all being good examples.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Y7dGdrP3pms\" height=\"315\" width=\"420\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Add a little something special<\/h4>\n<p>Unfortunately, there\u2019s no exact formula with music, and the odd artist manages to stumble on something special that elevates their song above the original. For example, Aretha Franklin introduced the R.E.S.P.E.C.T section into her cover of <i>Respect<\/i> (as well as the \u201d\u02dcsock it to me\u2019 line) and made the song her own.<\/p>\n<p>It works in the opposite direction too. Jeff Buckley and Johnny Cash stripped back <i>Hallelujah<\/i> and <i>Hurt<\/i> respectively and ended up creating the definitive versions of both.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>So, what makes the perfect cover song?<b> <\/b><\/h4>\n<p>Based on our ultra-scientific research into the BBC\u2019s shortlist, here is our formula for the perfect cover song:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Record it <b>12 years<\/b> after the original<\/li>\n<li><b>Change the genre<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Cover a vocalist of the same sex (unless you\u2019re recording after 2000!)<\/li>\n<li><b>Pick a well-known song<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Add something special (you\u2019ll figure it out, we\u2019re sure&#8230;)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>So, if you\u2019re in a punk band, cover a pop smash from 2002 and wait for the money to roll in! Here\u2019s a suggestion:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/koJlIGDImiU\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The BBC have launched a vote to find the nation\u2019s favourite cover song, with the 50 song shortlist picked by BBC DJs and music experts (you can also see what the public think by searching #GreatestCovers on Twitter). We\u2019ve already cast our vote, but the contest got us thinking: what &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[159,22],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2197"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3003,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197\/revisions\/3003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}