The title of this post can be taken two ways. One is musician slang, as in the exclamation of a great performance- a phrase heard in the metal world (‘That was killer, dude’) and the jazz community (‘Man, you cats were killin’). The other is a literal killing- not of a living being, but of a non-breathing entity which gave birth to that which is causing a sonic ‘death.’ We’re talking musical matricide.
I started thinking about this the other day when a really great song came on the radio that I hadn’t heard. At first, I thought it might be REM.
Now, I’m not exactly the biggest REM fan- I’ve never owned one of their albums and was always a bit resentful, never of the band themselves, but of what their music represented. It’s hard not to think of those annoying 1990’s critics, pundits and others who considered REM to be music for ‘smart’ people while those of us who liked and played heavy metal were automatically written off as being ‘dumb.’ Thankfully these critics and their ideas are no longer valid. Besides you can’t hold a band responsible for the stereotyping attitudes of some of their followers.
So I admit seriously liking a few of REM’s songs, especially the moody ones (‘Orange Crush’ and ‘Man On The Moon’ come to mind). And this song that I was hearing for the first time had everything I’d ever liked about them- a depth and longing that draws you in, puts you in touch with feelings of alienation you didn’t know you had, and cuts through the shallow surface of routine activity going on all around. But some quick online research showed that I was way off- the song wasn’t done by REM.
As it turned out, this track, ‘Mad World’ was recorded by someone I’d never heard of, Gary Jules, as part of the soundtrack to the 2003 film ‘Donnie Darko.’ I also noticed there was a version of the song by ‘Tears For Fears’ who, like REM, was an 80’s/90’s pop rock band whose albums I’d never bought, but who’d put out a couple songs I really liked (‘Shout,’ ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’).
So I checked out the Tears For Fears version, hoping for a cool interpretation of this great song. I was deeply let down. In fact, I was borderline insulted. Why? Three reasons:
1. The lead vocal, an exposed, reflective and intimate bearing of ones soul, had been replaced by a polished, perfected arena-pop croon.
2. The quiet palate of acoustic piano and cello had been swapped for a sonic jungle of synthesizers- string patches, synth bass and electronic drums.
3. The somber, melancholy mood behind the melody was gone, trumped by an uptempo industrial groove. In fact, the chorus of the song, which had conjured the image of one lonely man’s quiet, hidden despair, now brought to mind a crowded rave of goth kids jumping up and down in the strobe lights like a pack of intoxicated Hot Topic shoppers.
I was sure the Tears For Fears version had to be a strange experiment, a ‘misinterpretation’ of the song, an interesting idea, but one that was probably better left alone. How could they think of doing the song this way?!
Now here’s the really strange part which (and by now, you’ve probably guessed where this is going)…the version of ‘Mad World’ by Tears For Fears, the one which had made no sense to me whatsoever, was, in fact, none other than the original version of the song!
I’m completely baffled by this.
Hearing the ‘cover,’ I’d been convinced that it could be the only ‘true’ version of the song. The voice, the music, the inflection, the answer to the melody all had a sense of purpose- I could not imagine the song any other way. But it was an interpretation of another, pre-existing version. So what that means that this other track, the one I didn’t connect to at all, is technically the ‘true’ version! You can’t fault the song’s writers for their interpretation of their own composition. Of course, the Gary Jules ‘cover’ will forever be the definitive version of the song for me and, from comments I’ve seen, many others as well. But you have to respect the original version as well, even if you never desire to listen to it.
This is a great metaphor for life, whereas someone who interprets an event or situation completely differently than you is not necessarily wrong. And vice-versa.
At the moment, I can only think of a couple other examples of this- a cover song completely obliterating the original version, to my own ears (and others as well). In both cases, I heard the covers first, was very surprised that they were indeed ‘covers,’ and was a bit underwhelmed by the originals. It was almost as though the originals were created for the purpose of one day giving birth to these interpretations. Below you will find clips of ‘Mad World,’ the cover and the original, followed by the other two songs referred to above.
Can you think of any other ‘covers that kill?’
MAD WORLD (Gary Jules-Cover)
MAD WORLD (Tears For Fears-Original)
YOU REALLY GOT ME (Van Halen-Cover)
YOU REALLY GOT ME (The Kinks-Original)
ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER (Jimi Hendrix-Cover)
ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER (Bob Dylan-Original)