A Philosophy of Cover Songs , livre ebook

A Philosophy of Cover Songs
P.D. Magnus
A Philosophy of Cover Songs
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©2022 P.D. Magnus
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© P.D. Magnus, A Philosophy of Cover Songs . Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2022, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0293
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ISBN Paperback: 9781800644229
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DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0293
The cover image is a collage of AI-manipulations on the photograph ‘Yes Music in the Amphitheater, 1970’ by Ed Uthman, CC-BY-SA 2.0
Cover design by Anna Gatti
Table of Contents A Philosophy of Cover Songs Acknowledgments Introduction What is a Cover? The dictionary definition Five problems Looking for the real definition The history of covers Early days Hijacking continues Covers that hark back The lessons of history Covers and remakes Covers and film remakes Covers and mere remakes What are we doing here? Conclusion Kinds, Covers, and Kinds of Covers Musical works Tracks Performances Songs The slipperiness of ‘work’ Terminology What is it that a cover is a cover of? Mimics and renditions Conclusion Interlude: Cover Bands Listening to Covers The dim view of covers Evaluating mimic covers Evaluating rendition covers Lyrical changes Genre shifts Two modes of appreciation Originality and rocking out When artists try to hijack their own hits Is the distinction grounded in intentions orin appreciative standards? Conclusion The Semiotic Angle Reference, allusion, and hearing in Referential covers Saturated allusions Hearing in Reference and appreciation Against Impossibility The value of immediate experience The mystery of intentions Against Incompleteness Further reflections on allusions Evaluating rendition covers, revisited Covers of covers Coda Interlude: Torment and Interpolations Some Metaphysical Puzzles About Songs Interpolated covers Must a cover be the same song as the original? Striking covers Songs about songs The Fitzgerald dilemma How a Song is Like Ducks Songs are like species Species pluralism Rank pluralism for songs Concept pluralism for songs Lyrics as words, lyrics as meaning Further puzzles resolved Covers, mash-ups, and medleys Parodies Instrumental covers Conclusion Epilogue References
To Cristyn, Christy, and Ron.
Their influence runs through the whole book.
Even though the words are mine, we found many of the ideas together.
Acknowledgments
In the late 20th century: With the resource of Napster, my brother Warren put together two dozen versions of the song ‘Stardust.’ Inspired by this, I assembled several similar compilations— 29 versions of ‘Don’t Get Around Much Anymore’, 12 versions of ‘Solitude’, and 8 versions of the theme from Shaft . I had great fun listening to different covers, exploring the potential of each song.
About a decade ago: My friend Christy Mag Uidhir reached out to me, said that he had some ideas about covers, and suggested that we should coauthor something. We worked at it but disagreed on some fundamental issues. My wife Cristyn and I had long conversations in which it became clear that neither Christy nor I had staked out the right position. Distinctions needed to be made. That collaboration led to a paper by the three of us (Magnus et al. 2013). When responding to that paper, Andrew Kania refers to the three of us as ‘the Mags’— he says, ‘to save some space!’ (2020: 238)
More recently: Christy suggested that it was time to say more about covers. Sure, I replied, but what should we say? He didn’t know. I brainstormed lots of possibilities. The three of us soon had a draft of a new paper. I was having weekly lunch with Ron McClamrock, who used to play in cover bands. He brought a different perspective to the project and ultimately joined us as a coauthor (Magnus et al. 2022). It remains to be seen how this collaboration will be abbreviated— perhaps ‘4M’ or ‘the Mags feat. Ron McM.’
In the course of this collaboration, I came up with more ideas than would fit and wrote things which were cut for space. I had sabbatical coming up, giving me time to think about the bigger picture. The broader ideas and stray drafts formed the basis of this book.
Thanks to the Department of Philosophy at the University at Albany for making this book possible— for the semester of sabbatical in Fall 2021 which gave me a chance to focus on the project, but also for the willingness to tolerate my dilettantism.
The account I give here is built on the one I developed with my coauthors, and it would not have been possible without them. For feedback on drafts of the book, thanks to Christy Mag Uidhir, Ron McClamrock, Evan Malone, and Warren Magnus. Thanks also to Oz McClamrock, whose secondhand input about musical practice was useful at many stages of the project.
 P.D. Magnus
 Albany, 2022
‘Now you’re telling me you’re not nostalgic. Then give me another word for it. You who are so good with words And at keeping things vague.’ — Joan Baez, ‘Diamonds and Rust’ (1975)
‘Now you’re telling me you’re not nostalgic. Then give me another word for it. You who’s so good with words And at keeping things vague.’ — Judas Priest, covering Joan Baez (1977)
‘Now you’re telling me you’re not nostalgic. Well, then give me another word for it. You were so good with words And at keeping things vague.’ — Great White, as a tribute to Judas Priest (2008)
 
 
Introduction
© 2022 P.D. Magnus, CC BY 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0293.09
Cover songs are a familiar feature of contemporary popular music. Musicians describe their own performances as covers , and audiences use the category to organize their listening and appreciation. However, philosophers have not had much to say about them.
A common philosophical approach is to consider historical positions— for example, asking what Plato or Kant said on a topic. That makes no headway here, because Plato and Kant had nothing to say about cover songs. How could they? A cover is a version of a song that was first recorded by someone else, so covers require the technology to record and play back music. If Plato or Kant wanted to listen to a song again, they had to find performers to play it again.
Nevertheless, philosophy provides a valuable toolbox for thinking about covers, and the philosophy of cover songs illustrates some general points about philosophical method. Why is it that people have been announcing the death of covers for as long as there have been covers, while musicians keep making them? To answer that, we need to introduce distinctions. There are different kinds of covers.
As much as we need distinctions, however, we also need to recognize that honing our categories to diamond precision can be pedantic and doctrinaire. There are some distinctions which are not worth making.
A philosophical account of cover songs would be perverse if it were just an ethereal abstraction, so I discuss lots of different examples in this book. You may already be familiar with some of them. Others may be new to you. When it matters what a particular record sounds like, there is no reason to take my word for it. Most of the recordings that I discuss are readily available on the internet. You should listen and decide for yourself.
Please keep two things in mind about the examples.
First, you may find that you have different opinions about some of them than I do. Where the disagreement is incidental to the broader philosophical point, I ask you to substitute an example which you find more agreeable.
Second, despite all of the examples I address, there are many more that I have had to leave out. If you find yourself thinking about examples that I do not explicitly discuss, then I invite you to apply the distinctions and moves I make in the book. Part of the fun of thinking about cover songs is that there are interesting examples all over the place.
This book is divided into three parts, each containing two chapters. Although issues recur at different places, I have tried to make the chapters stand coherently on their own.
The first part is about how to think about covers . Chapter 1 reviews the history of covers and topples some possible definitions of ‘cover.’ Even though there is no clear definition, we can get by without one. I take cover songs to be the ones that are typically called that, and that is enough to get going. Chapter 2 introduces several distinctions which can help us understand covers better: First, between songs, performances, and tracks. Second, between mimic covers and rendition covers.
The second part is about appreciating covers . Chapter 3 uses the difference between mimic and rendition covers as the key to thinking about how we evaluate and appreciate them. Chapter 4 discusses covers which have an especially strong connection to the original— the original is either alluded to by the cover or changes how we hear the cover. Evaluating and appreciating these covers turns out to be tricky.
The third part is about the metaphysics of covers and songs . Chapter 5 poses some puzzles about the metaphysics of cover versions. Although a cover is typically a version of the same song as the original, there