Q:Which song is the hardest to record a poor cover of?
This seems like it should be a question for a professional arranger, or maybe someone who specializes in recording covers. Never having tried to record a cover well, I’ve never really had occasion to analyze what basic material would do half my job for me.
But a couple of options suggest themselves. The first would be the kind of nearly-incompetent-already sentimental song promoted by the original punks: say a “Whole Wide World” or a “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory.” It’s unlikely you’re going to sing them as poorly as Wreckless Eric or Johnny Thunders, so have at them.
The other option would be the songs that fall under the broad umbrella of “standards.” Some of them are quite difficult to sing, of course, with tricky rhythmic shifts and harmonic intervals, but I’m thinking of something as well-built as Jerome Kern’s “The Way You Look Tonight,” written for Fred Astaire’s voice and so conversational already, with unobtrusive harmonic intervals and a meter which does all the work for you of projecting the sentiment. All you’ve got to do is put the words in roughly the right order, and you’re home free.
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isabelthespy likes this
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isabelthespy said:
sad to report Kris Allen, whose American idol run I enjoyed an embarrassing amount, managed to be real boring all over the way you look tonight :(
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the20000 said:
We would have also accepted “The Dark End of the Street”. I hope this was distracting enough!
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the20000 likes this
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imathers likes this
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jonathanbogart posted this
