![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
BAD COVER VERSION 050: IT’S ONLY FAIR THAT I SHOULD LET YOU KNOW WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
One reason I started this series was to explore the idea that it’s not often that cover songs become the default standard over the original, and it’s rarer still that the cover becomes so huge that many people are unaware that it’s actually a cover song at all.
Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”, for example (originally by Gloria Jones).
Or Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along The Watchtower” (originally a Bob Dylan song).
Or Harry Nilsson’s “Without You”. Which was actually originally written and recorded by Badfinger.
Which must be a double-edged sword for Badfinger. On the one hand, their song has been covered by over 180 artists, which means a hell of a lot of royalties, probably more than they ever would have made on their own steam. On the other hand, most of those artists think they’re covering Nilsson – and indeed most use Nilsson’s version as the starting point.
To include Chicago-based glam pixie Bobby Conn, who gets my vote for the most awesomely frightening version of “Without You” ever.
Admit it. You’ll be sleeping with the light on tonight.
VIEWING TIP: Try to hold on until around the 4:00 mark when the harmonies kick in.
FULL DISCLOSURE: For the record, I like the Badfinger version more than the Nilsson version, which is a little too overwrought for me. But then I’m emotionally available, so I would say that, wouldn’t I?
I can’t live,
This is dF
Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”, for example (originally by Gloria Jones).
Or Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along The Watchtower” (originally a Bob Dylan song).
Or Harry Nilsson’s “Without You”. Which was actually originally written and recorded by Badfinger.
Which must be a double-edged sword for Badfinger. On the one hand, their song has been covered by over 180 artists, which means a hell of a lot of royalties, probably more than they ever would have made on their own steam. On the other hand, most of those artists think they’re covering Nilsson – and indeed most use Nilsson’s version as the starting point.
To include Chicago-based glam pixie Bobby Conn, who gets my vote for the most awesomely frightening version of “Without You” ever.
Admit it. You’ll be sleeping with the light on tonight.
VIEWING TIP: Try to hold on until around the 4:00 mark when the harmonies kick in.
FULL DISCLOSURE: For the record, I like the Badfinger version more than the Nilsson version, which is a little too overwrought for me. But then I’m emotionally available, so I would say that, wouldn’t I?
I can’t live,
This is dF