In
popular music, a
cover version, or simply
cover, is a new rendition (
performance or
recording) of a previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song. In its current use, it can sometimes have a
pejorative meaning—implying that the original recording should be regarded as the definitive version, usually in the sense of an "authentic" rendition, and all others are merely lesser competitors, alternatives or tributes (no matter how popular). However,
Billboard—and other magazines recording the popularity of the musical artists and hit tunes—originally measured the sales success of the published tune, not just recordings of it, or later the airplay that it also managed to achieve. In that context, the greater the number of cover versions, the more successful the song.
[1]Typically, artists and record companies are not directly compensated when other musicians perform covers, revivals or contemporary versions. Contemporary versions of older tunes have been always particularly popular among nascent musical acts as they are often used to strategically position well-known music between less popular "originals" by the artist(s), such as with "Who's Sorry Now?", "Blue Moon", "Twist and Shout", and "Not Fade Away".
The term 'cover version', coined in 1966[2], originally described a rival version of a tune recorded to compete with the recently released original version, e.g. Paul Williams' 1949 hit tune "The Hucklebuck" or Hank Williams' 1952[3] song "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", both crossed over to the popular Hit Parade and had numerous hit versions. Prior to the mid-20th century the notion of an original version of a popular tune would, of course, have seemed slightly odd — the production of musical entertainment being seen essentially as a live event, even if one that was reproduced at home via a copy of the sheet music, learned by heart, or captured on a shellac recording disc. Popular musicians (and especially modern listeners) have now begun to use the word "cover" to refer to any remake of a previously recorded tune.
In previous generations, some artists made very successful careers out of presenting revivals or reworkings of once popular tunes, even out of doing contemporary cover versions of current hits. Musicians now play what they call "cover versions" (e.g. the reworking, updating or interpretation) of songs as a tribute to the original performer or group. Using familiar material (e.g. evergreen hits, standard tunes or classic recordings) is an important method in learning various styles of music. Most albums, or long playing records, up until the mid-1960s usually contained a large number of evergreens or standards to present a fuller range of the artist's abilities and style.[4] Artists might also perform interpretations ("covers") of a favorite artist's hit tunes[5] for the simple pleasure of playing a familiar song or collection of tunes.[6] A cover band plays such "cover versions" exclusively.
