This blog is where I share the spoils from each Imaginary Song Hunt. Feel free to use the ‘comments’ box to share feedback or fun facts! If you enjoyed the session, please drop some pennies into the tip jar…

7th August 2024:

In this session, Joan Armatrading and medieval lyres joined forces, in my take on the ‘bardcore’ genre. We also enjoyed a spot of Hildegard von Blingin’ and a chat about the do’s and don’ts of cover versions, and some Song Hunter favourites.

Session video

The Joan Armatrading cover (first draft!)

Favourite cover versions

Some highlights from the Zoom chat:

• Pete: Matthews Southern Comfort version of Woodstock. Different and even more tuneful than original
• Moira: Karine Polwart – Parting Glass- superb!
• Debby: worst: orchestral versions of Nick Drake at the proms this year!
• Mike: best: Hendrix – All Along the Watchtower. Worst: Rolf Harris – Stairway to Heaven.
• Sjakk: worst: King Crimson’s Fracture, by a not so small chamber orchestra. Best: King Crimson’s Starless, by Unthanks
• Tony: worst: Mariah Carey’s Without You – a TV talent show (eek!)
• Helena: Hallelujah is by Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley covered it, but that goes to show what a good cover it was. Can’t beat the original with that one though! [Good point Helena! Love it too, yet still constantly give if to Jeff… just because that was the one I heard first! 😏😅]
• Graham: we saw Joan at Ronnie Scott’s on our wedding night in 1975. [!!!!!] Cover choice: Joni Mitchell’s River by US jazz singer Dianne Reeves. Long, soulful and cool.
• Mike: Rolf – just bad. Best: Walter Trout’s version of Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country”. Amazing blues guitarist makes it his own.
• Timothy: Nina Simone: Strange Fruit. Controlled rage.
• Helena: One of my faves is a piano instrumental of Moulette’s Revenge of the Bear, a frantic song with frantic strings. The piano gives a whole different perspective.
• Liz P: I like Creedence Clearwater Revival’s version of “Through the Grapevine.”
• Mike: Yes, agree it has to be “a different take”not just repeating the original. As per my earlier comment, the cover version artist “makes it their own”.
• Tony: Another very different cover version. I’m a great fan of Manfred Mann covers. YouTube link

And some thoughts in an email from Coleman, which were too interesting not to share:

What makes a good cover is very much like seeing different productions of familiar Shakespeare plays. When you have read Hamlet or other familiar play and seen many productions of it, you can still be amazed by a new performance that reveals profound truths that make you wonder, “Were those lines really in the play? I never noticed those before. Were those lines not used in earlier productions? Or did this actor find meaning and emphasize it in delivering those lines? Or what?“ Sometimes I have to go back and read it to be sure. I have the same experience with Chekhov and Ibsen, but sometimes a different translation reveals new meaning. And of course I am different each time, as I have more life experiences and/or I am more receptive.

Great covers of songs are the same way. Bob Dylan prefers to say “uncovering” a song when the new version reveals things you never noticed before. The first cover that blew me away in spite of familiarity was Joe Cocker’s version of “With a Little Help from My Friends.” The emotional impact was so much stronger than the original by the Beatles. It had a lot to do with Joe Cocker’s gravelly voice and his phrasing that was in the same league with Sinatra’s best work, but the main thing is that he communicated emotion that was lacking in the original. Jimmy Page’s guitar solo added to the emotional impact.

Then there are the covers of songs I had never heard before. When I heard Shane MacGowan and the Pogues sing “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda,” it hit me emotionally like a ton of bricks. He sounded as if he had barely survived the Battle of Gallipoli and had written a song about his experience. When I read that this great song was written by Eric Bogle, I bought the CD and found his delivery to be relatively lifeless. Another favorite is Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails, recorded by Cash near the end of his life.

GREATEST COVER EVER!