Music with Motif: Cover to cover

Recently, I’ve been thinking about covers after obsessively listening to Xiu Xiu’s newest album, which gives electric interpretations of some of my favourite experimental songs, such as ‘Hamburger Lady’ by Throbbing Gristle, and classics like Roy Orbison’s ‘In Dreams’. 

Often, covers are a great starting point for a band and are still used as the first singles on modern projects. For example, Geese have covered many rock classics, but my personal favourite is their cover of Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’. Cameron Winter seems to strike a middle ground between playful and heartfelt, which I didn’t think was possible to save such a comically angsty track. Likewise, Magdalena Bay’s 2019 cover of ‘Head Over Heels’ brings a modern touch to the Tears for Fears hit. The most striking difference is that Mica Tenenbaum’s vocals are more pronounced compared to their current sound, but their psychedelic production style is still apparent.  

Its triumphant trumpets and extravagant lyrics drunkenly reminisce about glory and the desire to feel the same way for just one cute hour

Covers that have been translated across languages have been the subject of controversy too, with Scott Walker’s cover of ‘Jackie’ by the Belgian singer Jacques Brel being banned by the BBC for its debauched references. Its triumphant trumpets and extravagant lyrics drunkenly reminisce about glory and the desire to feel the same way for just one cute hour. However, it wasn’t banned, full stop, with Walker giving a dramatically iconic performance on The Frankie Howerd Show, which could inspire someone as dull as Kawhi Leonard.  

The most tragic story to do with covers involves John Coltrane’s deeply symbolic relationship to the classic ‘My Favourite Things’ from the musical The Sound of Music. On the one hand, it propelled his career into the commercial spotlight with his 1961 edited single and titled album. On the other hand, Coltrane’s final performance in the Olatunji Centre of African Culture in New York, just three months before his death, is mostly comprised of an extended improvisation of ‘My Favourite Things’. The actual recording of this performance is extremely raw and, at some points, ear-splittingly loud, but if you step away from its recording quality, the fruits of this performance have become apparent. Despite achieving sobriety a decade prior, the long-term damage done to his body suddenly presented itself within his final year. With his health progressively deteriorating and his condition becoming more visible to the public, Coltrane decided to pour his life into his last performances, which resulted in some of the most powerful music ever conceived. In the performance, we hear how Coltrane’s sound has developed since 1961, through hearty improvisations that swell up to screams at points, audibly crying for help, then occasionally he loops back around to the familiar melody.  

This only amplifies the seismic emotional might the listener is hit with, where the insanity breaks in the final third of the track

To circle back to my recent obsession with covers and Xiu Xiu, my favourite cover of theirs, and maybe of all time, must be ‘Under Pressure’ with Swans’ Michael Gira, which, for me, is like the Avengers teaming up. From the moment the saxophones build into Jamie Stewart screaming, “Pressure!” (‘Under Pressure’, Xiu Xiu), the familiar riff is in the background to horns and even bells, and at times the trio’s more reserved vocal performances go so far as to become spoken word in some verses. This only amplifies the seismic emotional might the listener is hit with, where the insanity breaks in the final third of the track. Hearing this track in the context of both artists’ tragically depressing discography adds to the weight of the unifying lyrics and serves as a warming reminder of why they create music in the first place, with the final verse cut from Queen and David Bowie’s original track as if the burden of pressure has been lifted.