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Ben Elliot
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1/23/2008 2:55:52 PM
Which song should I cover?
I've have been stuck in a rut recently in terms of writing new material and nailing the hooks. In order to cure me I've been set a challenge. The challenge is to cover a song. The idea is that I will experience how other people write, while at the same time developing my own style. Sounds like a good idea but I have no idea what to cover. Ive scrolled all the way through my iTunes and racked my brains for something inspirational, creative and interesting that I can put my own stamp on but cannot think of a single thing. At this point I thought, this is where the IAC community will come up trumps.
Basically, I would love to hear what you guys think I should cover.
Thanks
Ben
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The CODE
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1/23/2008 3:11:02 PM
Cover them all Ben!!! After all...they are covers!!!
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No Rhythm
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1/23/2008 3:44:06 PM
Hi Ben
I think you should find something that is at the opposite end to your main genre and then do it in your own style keeping loosely to what they have done. Kinda becomes your own then and because you're following their progressions it tends to spark up your own creativity and will offshoot to an entirely new song.
Cheers Mark
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Ben Elliot
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1/24/2008 5:16:48 AM
Thanks, I definately want to cover something different but dont want to following a basic chord progression, I think id like to work with something that really has a really interesting sound. I was thinking either taking a slower songs and picking it up a bit or slowing down a faster song.
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Hugh Hamilton
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1/24/2008 5:19:12 AM
I like recording covers to learn all sorts of stuff - forces you to really pay attention to the sounds, parts, mix...but I also enjoy "changing things up a bit"...in my case, I cover stuff that I absolutely feel compelled to join in on...the stuff that sounds so fun I can't resist wanting to play/sing along...good luck!
H
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Hop On Pop
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1/24/2008 6:02:55 AM
What's your favorite song in the world?
What are the songs that made you want to play music in the first place?
Pick one of those.
Then, internalize it. Make it your own.
No need to TRY to make it different than the original, just don't try to make it identical. Just play it the way you feel it. It will become your own, organically.
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niteshift
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1/24/2008 6:04:02 AM
Hey Larree,
Ok, what about thinking along the Joe Cocker line here ?
Pick an interesting song that you love in your chosen genre. Then randomly ( and I mean randomly ) choose another genre and MAKE yourself rewrite the song.
It's a good exercise in overcoming mental blocks. Look foward to Smoke on the Water done as a Carrabean/Soul/Country crossover.
cheers, niteshift
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niteshift
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1/24/2008 6:18:17 AM
Ha ! Used to play with a smoking guitarist. We had to tell him to knock it on the head when he strummed all his lead breaks for an entire 45 minute set. Guess he was makin the music his own.
cheers, niteshift
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Hugh Hamilton
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1/24/2008 6:33:28 AM
Hey niteshift - howzabout Ob-La-Di as a pickin'-n-grinnin' banjo song? Check it out on my page if ya like...
:)
H
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Hugh Hamilton
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1/24/2008 6:44:03 AM
Thanks Llaarree...I borrowed a friend's banjo and carried it around the yard with me while tending my wee ones (that would be the kids) last spring for a couple of weeks...had dabbled in uke a year before that, so the banjo came kind of naturally - this reminds me of a songwriting tip, Ben - works for me anyway - picking up a different instrument (whether it's borrowing someone else's axe - sitting at a different piano - or a whole new instrument like uke or banjo or mandolin, or trying a 12-string instead of 6-string, or even branching out into some open tunings on guitar) almost always spurs me on to a new tune. I have lots of examples but will spare you the details. Anyway - good luck with both cover(s) and writing...
H
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Hugh Hamilton
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1/24/2008 6:47:32 AM
Geez - I'm reminded - Steve Ison hooked up with a friend and met weekly, with a goal of each writing 50 songs in a year. He's said that that became a kind of friendly competition and spurred them both on...I've had a friend "assign" me a song to write - he cleverly specified what he knew was the most important thing in my life at that moment as the topic - I wrote the song in about 30 minutes and demo'd it before lunch that morning (lol)...or do what John Lennon did and sit down with the newspaper (A Day In The Life) - there's plenty of fodder there these days...or any of a million other ways and places to get inspiration...do you have any favorite methods you care to share, folks?
H
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Steve Ison
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1/24/2008 7:01:24 AM
Hugh..I managed to write 33 songs from doing that last year..I'm really proud of that...Being very lazy about completing stuff,there's no way i'd've done it without having the 'pressure' to do it..Harper Stephens is a great songwriter imho who i admire more than any other musician-and VERY fussy-so it spurred me on to do my absoloute best and sniff out weak parts musically and lyrically...
Doing that song from your friends suggestion seems like a really cool idea tho.I'm glad it worked for you..
Wonder if any of these ideas for waking up your muse would work for you Ben?
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Steve Ison
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1/24/2008 7:04:55 AM
Maybe for covers look at some of those really early like 30s/40s Cole Porter/Irving Berlin type songs..
So well written-interesting creative chord changes etc..Often its just the style they were done in that puts me off-So there's loads of room to update them in a radically new style..
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niteshift
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1/24/2008 7:27:03 AM
Hugh, yep works for me. Very clever rendition of a classic song.
Steve, yep, those songs were wriiten over 60 yrs ago, yet I sometimes melt at their structure and beauty.
I guess the lesson learned is a well writen and structured song can be taken from one genre to the next ( without wrecking it ) because the song was well thought out in the first place. C'mon Ben, I reckon you can now pick a song and give your rendition of it.
cheers, niteshift
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Black Velvet Lace
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1/24/2008 8:11:20 AM
Hi Ben,
As a singer/musician I've only written 2 songs (to date) and so covering songs has always been my *thing*. I'm about to begin covering another one for IAC (with my new studio band YaYaYa) and the best advice I can give has really already been *covered* by others above. Chose something that SPEAKS to you, a song that you love, seeps into your bones, you can't wait to play yourself, and feel you can do justice. Study it, and then MAKE IT YOUR OWN. Like Hugh did with Oh-Bla-Di.
Good luck!
~Lace~
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srm
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1/24/2008 8:38:54 AM
You could always cover Frank Zappa's "Sofa" (with a nice plastic liner, of course).
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Bat Lenny
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1/24/2008 10:10:22 AM
Und du bist mein sofa...
Bat Lenny is currently in the same situation. Here's what we've covered so far:
Grass - XTC
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun - Pink Floyd
You're the Violin - Nazareth
Moonage Daydream - David Bowie
Immigrants' Song - Led Zeppelin
To varying degrees of success. So now we're looking for a new one.
For us the trick is to pick a great song that isn't so great that you can't possibly measure up to the original, or perhaps it's a great song but wasn't performed all that well originally. Immigrants' Song is that - the original performance is so flat and dull, and too short. There are a lot of Floyd songs I wouldn't touch, but Set the Controls is so open to interpretation. The Nazareth song is just a really cool song that nobody would expect which is good, but not many people would relate to it either, which is bad.
So, I dunno...
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Hop On Pop
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1/24/2008 10:19:05 AM
Here are the songs that I've covered in various bands (in chronological order):
"Runaway" (Del Shannon)
Did it as a straight-ahead guitar song. I played the organ solo on guitar.
"When Doves Cry" (Prince)
With one of my old punk bands. We did it up as a noise rock thing. Played up the anger that is in the song, but buried by the funk in the original.
"Rat Patrol" (Naked Raygun)
With my second punk band. Pretty straight-ahead version, but faster.
"Roller Coaster" (13th Floor Elevators)
With the psych band that I just quit. Did it pretty straight-ahead, but played it like ourselves. A little more rock than the original. And a little more "us".
"Final Solution" ( The Dead Boys)
With the same band that did the song above. Pretty straight take on it.
I did/do the following songs solo/acoustic:
"Dark End Of the Street" (Aretha Franklin/Flying Burrito Brothers)
"Good Guys and Bad Guys" (Camper Van Beethoven)
"Norwegian Wood" (Beatles)
"Catch A Falling Star" (Perry Como)
And probably a few more, too. Hope this gives you some ideas.
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Hop On Pop
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1/24/2008 10:21:13 AM
Oh yeah, and I always thought that
"It Sounds Great When You're Dead"
by Robyn Hitchcock
would make a great hard rock song. The riff was made to be thrashed out.
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the kozy king
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1/24/2008 10:24:21 AM
Ben:
Find "King of America" by Elvis Costello
The songs are written to be playable with acoustic guitar only. That should leave plenty of room for your brilliant arranging.
If you can't find it, but are interested, let me know in a private message ("PM" above the shout box on my page)
TT
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Gremislav Iakovich
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1/24/2008 11:33:31 PM
Ben, if you don't cover "One More Red Nightmare" by King Crimson, I'll hurt a kitten.... I swear.
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RedRobin
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1/24/2008 11:45:11 PM
Hi Ben,
Only cover songs that you feel you enjoy singing and feel you can do well but with your own 'spin' on them.
A friend of mine ElijahWolf gigs several times a week (in the UK) and mixes covers with his own songs in a set. It gives the audience something they're familiar with and can enjoy and then lulls them into thinking they should already know his original songs! Result = A great overall response and CD's sold!
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Gary Stockton
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1/25/2008 11:33:56 AM
Ben, like many others have recommended, pick a song you like yourself, one that moves you and learn to do your own spin on it.
Foy Vance does a stunning version of Jimi Hendrix's "Cross Town Traffic", and Hendrix himself did a remarkable cover of Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower".
I recently did a cover of David Gray's song "Shine", although I didn't try to deviate from how he does it. There is a video of my take on this cover posted on my artist page right now if you are interested in checking it out.
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Spank Momma
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1/25/2008 12:43:00 PM
Ben, after hearing some of your songs I think you should do a squeeze song or perhaps, That toon by crowded house.. or Love is like oxygen.
I believe you would have no trouble doing any of these. Thats a good thing.
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Magnetfisch
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1/25/2008 1:22:35 PM
if you ask me, I would spontaneously answer "mandela day" by Simple Minds. A very inspirational song indeed.
We began with the idea of covering a Simple Minds song (New Gold Dream), but went on to cover another favourite band of ours, And Also The Trees:
http://www.myspace.com/tributetoaatt
We did "Roulette". Which became a dance song, with a Texas touch (Summer Son) 8-)
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Gary Stockton
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1/25/2008 2:23:05 PM
"Love is like oxygen"
GREAT SUGGESTION!
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Tony Vani and Debbie Hoskin
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1/25/2008 4:16:45 PM
I've recorded many cover tunes as well as my own. I considered adding a cover to my page but I can't figure out how to get permission to do so. I see lots of IAC'ers doing it. Can anyone help me? I guess it has to be a Canadian one. I tried the American one and it asks for a U.S. address. deb
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SILVERWOODSTUDIO
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1/25/2008 4:30:36 PM
---some wonderful ideas (and songs) here----
Ben---- I did nothing but covers for many years, and still learn one new cover a week---this week its "Mama you been on my Mind" by Dylan /Joan Baez did a great version!
Taking Debs' point--- if you don't want to have to pay royalties, pick something that is "Public Domain"-----Elvis did it with Wooden Heart----'O solo mio' and they wrote their own lyrics----also with " Love Me Tender" a real old tune with beautiful chords---covers are stiill the "Bread & Butter " of my musical world!
Have a ball!!
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Ben Elliot
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1/26/2008 10:17:50 AM
Thanks everyone. This has been really useful and its good to get everyones thoughts on covering music. To be honest Ive been so self absorbed in my own music recently that I havnt listen much to any other music. Its good in a way as I havnt been directly influence by anything so have taken steps forward in creating my own sound, but ideas start to run thin after a while with no inspiration. I have whittled it down to a few songs and I think Ill get cracking with the recording tomorrow.
My thoughts so far are:
- Powderfinger - The Metre
- Tear Drop - Massive Attack
- Elvis Costello - Oliver's Army
If anyone has opinions on any of these songs and whether you recon I coul make them work or not in my style, please let me know.
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Steve Ison
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1/26/2008 10:49:20 AM
"Love is like oxygen" by The Sweet..
Love that song...Such a haunting vibe-beautifully written..
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Steve Ison
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1/26/2008 10:53:38 AM
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Spank Momma
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1/26/2008 10:59:08 AM
Alright then any one want to try and do a version of that toon. It will take months.
To do a great job would require all the best talent in here. Which means if anyone wants to try it, I will start learning some parts,Bwahahaha I could prolly handle the keys or drums or bass and some vox. I would recommend loading the song and emulating as many parts to the recording as possible, It would be very difficult with out doing so, lest your a freakin vertuoso and can read all the parts. If some big people want to do this without baby I would fully understand. The song is very big. Salami
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Steve Ison
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1/26/2008 11:20:51 AM
Well i wouldn't attempt it Ewe-but good luck if you do..
I always think its wiser to take on a great song thats done badly..Then you've got some room to move..
Thats a great song DONE GREAT...
The vocal is sublime..The productions intricate and a total labour of love..
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Ben Elliot
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1/26/2008 11:41:34 AM
I would love to. I have had a listen through and its huge. If I have the time Ill have a crack.
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the kozy king
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1/26/2008 11:50:38 AM
BEN: "If anyone has opinions on any of these songs and whether you recon I coul make them work or not in my style, please let me know."
Please consider my opinions to be of no real account (I just like hearing myself talk I think sometimes)
I don't think Olivers Army can be improved on. May I specifically suggest INDOOR FIREWORKS by EC from "king of America"?? I think you could top him by re-arranging that one. I'll send it if you need.
TT
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Spank Momma
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1/26/2008 2:44:12 PM
I think I could write and record 5 songs before I could learn all of that toon.
Yeah that lead vocal is all head voice ain't it. Very cool toon.
Remember! Love gets you high!.
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