There are a number of great songs that first entered my ears as cover versions, and those cover versions were so damned good that they biased my ears to forever favor them over the original. When I go on to cover the song myself, as I often do with songs I love, I am then in the position of covering the cover. I’m pretty sure I’ve even covered a cover of a cover. It’s all to the good, as far as I’m concerned. I enjoying playing and singing songs that move me, and for me that experience admits no thoughts of authorship or credit. “Everything is free” by Gillian Welch was introduced to me my Madison Cunningham, who hits all her covers out of the park. When I went to search for the original, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it every bit as much as the cover, maybe even a bit more.
Another thing I’ve discovered recently is that when I go a long stretch without using my recording equipment, I forget how to use it, and so it is that I continually find myself in a one step forward, two steps back situation with respect to my recording skills. Getting back on the recording horse, for me, almost always involves recording a live version of whatever cover song I’ve most recently learned. Can you guess what song I recorded this weekend?
There are so many, too many, ways to lay down a live acoustic recording using various configurations of the toys I happen to have in my home studio. Since I’ve forgotten which ways I like best, I chose a completely different configuration (different mic, interface, effects) on live cover song #2 of this weekend, “Josephine” by Chris Cornell.
Although both were hastily recorded one-take wonders transposed into keys more suitable to my relatively weak vocals, I kinda like ’em, and I’m reminded – for the gazillionth time – how much I enjoy noodling around in my studio. I’ll forgo any declarations about how I’m going to start doing this “on the reg,” as the kids say. Next summer is a long way off, and I’ve yet to summon the resolve to be consistently creatively productive in the throes of the work-a-day routine. Then again, who knows. I may yet surprise myself.