Did you know that August is International Cover Song Month?
You didn’t?
Well, that’s because I made it up. But I’ve also noticed that we’ve only done one cover song on the blog this year, and that feels unsatisfactory.
So let’s pretend International Cover Song Month is a thing. Let’s pretend the United Nations made a declaration. Let’s pretend there’s some kind of bracelet campaign to raise awareness for it, and that Google changed its homepage to display a clever animation of Walk Off The Earth playing Metallica using only kitchen utensils or something.
This month, I will do my best to bring you some examples of old favourites made new, and perhaps more beautiful, by the artists covering them.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. Genre-crossing covers can be disastrous. Rock-to-jazz covers can be the worst offenders; they tend to replace angst and anger with a kind of elevator-music kitch that feels insulting to the original. But the chords in “Black Hole Sun” – particularly the verse – translate easily into the language of jazz and blues.
2. Whereas the original builds after the final chorus and does the standard drive-it-into-the-wall 90s rock ending, Jones pushes the chords up an octave and fades out slowly, for an equal but opposite emotional effect.
3. This recording is from a concert Jones played in Detroit’s Fox Theatre in 2017, a week after Chris Cornell’s death. It was the same theatre where Cornell played his last show.
Recommended listening activity:
Sketching, from memory, one of your favourite places.