Under the Covers

Meredith McGrane, contributor

 

When the Beatles began performing as a foursome in the early 1960s, they were often belting out cover songs, singing the likes of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Buddy Holly. The band had yet to discover its own sound. Emulation has long been a natural part of the creative process, in any medium. And ironically, the Beatles' original song “Yesterday” would eventually become recognized as one of the most covered songs of all time. 

 

Cover songs are where nostalgia meets surprise! They can introduce a new generation to a well-loved tune…think Toto’s “Africa” from 1982, happily delighting fresh ears when Weezer covered the song in 2018. They can also cross musical genres…Dolly Parton's country classic “I Will Always Love You” from 1974 becoming one of Whitney Houston’s signature pop ballads in 1992. 

 

A cover can also move the emotional temperature with a gender shift. When Sinéad O’Connor covered Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” in 1990, she breathed new life into the track with vulnerability, tender femininity, and a rawness that even summoned real tears for O’Connor in the music video. The songstress takes the piece to an emotional depth far beyond the cool detachment of Prince’s 1985 electric cut. The listener feels her feminine ache, steeped in a heartbreak we’ve all known too.  

 

But the most captivating cover songs are the ones that push all musical expectations in their reimagining, as Johnny Cash famously did. Cash released a memorable cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” in 2002, taking pain to a place that feels deeper and more despairing than Trent Reznor's original. The 1994 Nine Inch Nails version seems a bit tentative and younger, the singer issuing a warning of future hurt and contemplating his becoming. Cash’s cover evokes an anguish that feels more reflective of the past. A man and his guitar: older, wiser, and weathered. His recording hints at a reckoning. The listener, newly mesmerized.  

 

Hearing a cover song can invite curiosity and a closer listen. Covers can inspire the audience to consider: what has changed? And what has been preserved or honored? Cover songs can be love letters, conversations, or a provocation. They can be a wild departure from the original, or simply an echo. And like any work of art, film, or literature, a cover song can often leave us with more questions than answers. Or maybe a cover song is just a song we get to love twice!