What makes Cover Songs Special?

This blog post was written by Marketing Intern PJ Ferguson in preparation for Capital Records Live! on March 23. Tickets and info here. 

Cover songs.

From garages to stadiums, every band has performed them. Arguably the most influential band of all time, The Beatles, scored some of their earliest hits with cover songs including “Twist and Shout” and “Roll Over Beethoven.” Cover songs make up almost half of The Beatles’ first album, Please Please Me. Familiarity often wins over an audience, so what makes a cover song special?

The singer is a messenger for conveying their meaning of the song. Eddie Vedder recently covered a lesser known Tom Petty track, “Room at the Top,” at the 2018 Oscars. Instead of imitating Petty, Vedder paid service to The Heartbreaker by channeling his own heartbreak of being one of the last men standing from the grunge era after losing his friend and former bandmate, Chris Cornell, and many of his contemporaries. As Rolling Stone explains, “the Pearl Jam frontman stripped back the 1999 single to a soft croon, strummed electric guitar and swirling keyboard strings.”

Covers also allow artists to exhibit and build up their strengths. Singer Joe Cocker charmed audiences with his raspy vocals and manic delivery of Beatles’ classics such as “With a Little Help from My Friends” and “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.” “With a Little Help” is considered to be one of the greatest covers of all time by Rolling Stone and was even featured as the theme song to the T.V. show The Wonder Years.

Through YouTube and social media channels, thousands of covers performed in every genre are accessible to worldwide audiences. It has even become profitable. YouTube channel, Postmodern Jukebox, has earned millions of views posting covers of modern hits performed in early twentieth century musical styles.

Showcasing the talent in our own backyard, Proctors and WAIX 106.1 are teaming up to present Capital Records Live, a new concert series highlighting classic albums performed by local artists. The inaugural event features the Bryan Brundige Collective, Clear Mind, Eastbound Jesus, Girl Blue, Let’s Be Leonard and Wild Adriatic coming together on stage to perform Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in its entirety and selections from The Beatles (The White Album).

Bringing together artists from different genres is sure to add a trace of unpredictability to the familiar songs. Capital Records Live is the only place you will hear a hip-hop version of “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” a bluegrass take on “Back in the U.S.S.R.” and a swing rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” — all in one night!

Capital Records Live debuts 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 23 at the GE Theatre at Proctors. Tickets, $25, are available at the Box Office at Proctors, 432 State Street, Schenectady; by phone at 518.346.6204; and online at proctors.org.