Monday, November 24, 2008

When a cover version changes the meaning of a song

Sometimes a cover version can change the original meaning of a song. When Sandie Shaw sings “Reviewing The Situation” the song takes on a new slant when sang from a female perspective. The lyrics –

And a wife would cook and sew for me,
And come for me, and go for me.

Are changed to –
And I would cook and sew for him, and come for him, and go for him.

Another example is the Undertones “Teenage Kicks” contains the lyrics –

Are teenage dreams so hard to beat?
Every time she walks down the street
Another girl in the neighborhood
Wish she was mine, she looks so good
I wanna hold you wanna hold you tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night

These lyrics are great when sung by a teenager, but when they are sang by the band The Platinum Paddies the fact that the singer is clearly in his advancing years makes the song somewhat menacing.

The ultimate though unintentional creepy cover is the Elvis Presley song “Suspicious Minds” the lyrics, as you probably know are –

We're caught in a trap
I can't walk out
Because I love you too much baby
Why can't you see?
What you're doing to me

These are very strange words (in retrospect) to be sang by
Gary Glitter in view of everything that we have found out about him in the last few years.

Anyone know of any others?

1 comment:

  1. Hi. Jackie Leven once pointed out the lyrical paranoia of You've Lost That Loving Feeling, a song he'd covered with David Thomas: "You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips." How would he know that, unless his eyes were open too??

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