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The adaptational nature of covering songs lend credence towards three directions in re-recording them under new circumstances or contexts.

I initially wrote about the brief reasons behind the popularity of cover songs. I do feel as of recently, and while I’m trying to muster up the motivation to finish up another piece, that there is something else about cover songs in general that is interesting. Its very nature which rests in reinterpreting and remaking the original track reminds me of how many of the creative works tend to find themselves being adapted into new mediums and different subtexts. This happened with the classics like the Greek or Roman mythologies that would soon become the basis of films like Hercules in 1997 as part of the Disney Renaissance regardless of how loose it feels. And it’s also the basis of which influential creatives like William Shakespeare were allowed to remodel contemporary texts from fellow writers such as Matteo Bandello into Romeo and Juliet and Cymbeline. 

For cover songs themselves, their generally short lengths, flexible ambiguity in their lyrics, and the make-do nature of the musical style lend credence towards forming different attitudes or identities. I have listened to a lot of such cases which were done under completely different tones or enunciations to convey a new interpretation. At the same time, there are a lot of tunes that are done under different genres to form a refreshing way to approach the subject matter. Sometimes, even the age of the singer or the time of which the song was covered in gives way to a new subtext that makes it stand out from the original.

My take as a result is to argue that there are three types of cover songs that have their own appeals – the ode-ful, the adaptational, and the recontextualised. These do come off as academic jargon, but I’ll do my best to explain it as simply as possible without throwing in too many citations. I do recommend reading articles that professors like John Dean had written about the nature of adaptation themselves. They help to clarify a lot on how new mediums help to reinterpret and re-imagine old texts to an audience in a way that they have not thought of before. Additionally, others such as James McKinnon argue for adaptation as a fundamental part of the creative process by dismantling the essentialist belief of the “creative genius” by basically proving Ezra Pound’s famous saying to “make something new.”

To start off, the ode-ful cover is the most common. The artist is different from the original creator, but the cover song opted to remain faithful to the very source material it comes from. This tends to involve the instrumentation being very similar to the point where it might as well be the same. The main difference is mostly on the singer where their vocal range is going to differ – do expect them to try and flex themselves with a high note every now and then. If there are any other adjustments or should there be any limit such as the artist being on their own, it’s likely that they will prioritise playing only 1 instrument themselves.

The main purpose of the ode-ful cover is a bit self-explanatory – that being as an act of tribute to the original artist. The covering artist themselves are likely going to be a fan of them, at most a friend even, who wanted to give a shout-out by playing their favourite song. This is something that you will likely find all over YouTube where people might strum a cute ukulele tune along as they sing a trending pop song.

I feel that one example of a well-known ode-ful cover would be Michael Bublé’s numerous Christmas covers. The guy can sing for sure and while original writing isn’t exactly his forte, his vocals help to just about update old tunes like ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’ into the modern era without changing too much of it. If you want something that sticks out as being much better, I would very much recommend Nina Simone‘s numerous covers – one classic example being her cover of ‘Feeling Good’ which was originally written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse. Her sharp singing in particular brings the song into life in a way that is all-encompassing and befitting of its original theatrical intent for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint.

The adaptational cover harkens back to the typical adaptation of a novel to a film, but this kind is more so based around the genre in question. This means that the way that the instrumentation is played will differ significantly from the original song and the vocalisation will not follow the same enunciation as the artist as well. This change in tune necessitates an re-interpretation of the theme towards a bigger emphasis on other words in the lyrics and the newly made structure in the tune.

This means that the adaptational cover works in the sense that it not only seeks to introduce the song to a different audience under a new light, but it also works around the death-of-the-author kind of ambiguity to show differing themes. After all, many listeners will love the same tune for different reasons. 

A classic example of that would have to be Devo’s new wave take on ‘[Can’t Get No] Satisfaction’ which was originally done by the Rolling Stones. While the original version itself was based on sexual frustration which was done through the bored singing which contrasts with the harmonised chorus, Devo turns the song into an anti-consumerist satire which eschews any Freudian gut feelings in favour of the temptation of buying to stave off idleness. Pay attention to how the lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh puts emphasis on how “white” the shirts could be from the man who’s promoting it on TV or how the instrumentation is rooted in funk, but the way it’s played is more “mechanized” in a way.

Lastly, the recontextualised cover thrives off from the time that it’s been recorded in. The original might be made in response to the social climate, a personal issue, or even the driving concept of the album it’s for. However, its re-recording under a different artist is more bound to see its meaning be changed beyond that of the adaptational cover if the intent very much remains the same. It can also find its style change in the process as well, but it can also remain the same as is the case for the ode-ful cover. 

This typically means that the recontextualised cover is both more bound to the cover artist due to its personal nature and is more prone to being flexible with its instrumentation. Many of what people would consider to be the greatest ever covers are likely going to fall into this due to the significance of adapting an entire song in a way that is virtually inseparable from the covering artist themself. 
Here is one classic example for this. Johnny Cash’s ‘Hurt’ rips off the self-loathingness of Nine Inch Nail’s closing track of the critically beloved The Downward Spiral and distils its open-endedness into an aspirational redemption treatise about wanting to make up for his failures and finding his own closure before he passes away. When frontman Trent Reznor listened to it, he even went as far in his praises as to say that he no longer owns it due to its very personal context from his interview with Alternative Press. When Cash recorded it, he was living out his final months before passing away with many oft-publicised cases of his drug use and marital problems looming over his career. These subtexts form the bedrock of which ‘Hurt’ gets reinterpreted from being seen more generally as being about self-destruction into a regretful desire to “start over again” with the lessons learned from past mistakes.

The ode-ful, adaptational, and recontextualised covers thus stands as the three types of cover songs that I feel are worth categorising into. These intents help as a bit of food for thought by highlighting the similarities, differences, and intentions of why they are recorded in the first place. I can’t say for certain if some scholar might find this to be useful in the future, but I would like to think of this as a launchpad to dive deep into the process of covering songs itself & its implications on the creative process of being an artist.