The Cover Changes the Meaning: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

 

== Songs A-M ==

* The original "I'll Be Home For Christmas" had a melancholy soundtrack and was meant to echo the feelings of troops overseas who had hoped the war would be done in time for Christmas. More recent versions have replaced the original melancholy music with an upbeat music and [[Lyrical Dissonance|the most melancholy lyric is sung almost triumphantly]].

* The Crystals, a 1960s girl band, sung "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)" in a way that is easily interpreted as sincere. It's worth noting that their producer was Phil Spector, who was never known for the most positive attitudes towards women, and was eventually convicted of murdering a woman he was on a date with. Grizzly Bear covers the song and makes it haunting and tragic. Also, Grizzly Bear's lead singer is male.

** This is because Sophie is reading aloud from her mother's diary. During the last few lines, however, she seems rather wistful.

* By changing a few words, and the [[The Cover Changes the Gender|gender of the singer from male to female]], Cyndi Lauper turned [[Covered Up|Robert Hazard's]] "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" into a bouncy feminist pop anthem.

** And Greg Laswell then turned it from a giggly pop song into a [[Break the Cutie]] ballad.

** [[Emilie Autumn]]'s cover puts in self-destructive undertones.

** [[Your Mileage May Vary]]. To my ears, it's just Muse doing an optimistic song about... well, Feeling Good.

** Their version of "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" turns it into a [[Nightmare Fuel]] [[Obsession Song]].

** Debatable. There are just as many who see this cover as being Joe's [[Pet the Dog]] moment, and tellingly, it's been played on soft rock stations nearly as often as the original, as well as derided by more metal-oriented fans as the song they can't believe the band did. The only thing that really feels "wrathful" about the cover is the heavily distorted guitars during the chorus, and that still makes it feel pretty tame from a band who wrote a song about a serial killer in Disneyland.

** At one point during the [[The Troubles|Troubles in Northern Ireland]], "Cats in the Cradle" was used in a TV anti-terrorism ad, with the lyrics kept the same but the video showing that the reason the singer wasn't around for his son was because he was in prison - by the time he gets out and tries to reconnect with his grown up son, it's too late, his son's followed in his footsteps (gunning down an unarmed man in front of the man's child).

** The Cardigans did something a little more subtle with another Sabbath cover, "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath": Both versions are basically about feeling betrayed by society - the original is an angry take on this, while the cover is more of a sadly resigned ballad.

** The Fairy Godmother's version in ''[[Shrek]] 2'' double subverts it. It's the main villain singing a song about heroes coming to the rescue, while unbeknownst to her heroes really are coming to the rescue.

* [[David Bowie]]'s "Heroes": mildly disinterested and cynical about the world and the capacity for heroism. [[Peter Gabriel]] gets a hold of it, and it's a [[Above the Ruins]] shot in lyrical form.

*** [[Patton Oswalt]] has a routine where he mimics Dave's "demonic" slowed-down voice.

*** Patton's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R69_mZj6YWo routine] and the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rcl1obPIbU real thing].

** Then again, a substantial portion also thought the original song sincerely believed in its lyrics. This interpretation may have gotten worse after the song debuted, as since then, [[The Eighties]] have become very known and parodied for crass consumer capitalism, to the point people may not actually believe a similar parody could have been written during the era.

* God Dethroned covered the psychotic and menacing "Fire" by Arthur Brown. Originally the song was a gleeful upbeat song that [[Lyrical Dissonance|chimed about creating suffering and misery for others.]] However this version is extremely aggressive and features the same lyrics accompanied by death metal guitar storms and demon like screams and growls.

** Similarly, the Who covered "Fire" as part of Pete Townshend's solo album ''[[The Iron Giant|The Iron Man]]'', where it becomes one of the space dragon's [[Villain Song|villain songs]].

** His cover of "Danny Says," by The Ramones, sounds like he's been riding on a bus for several days and his heart has just been broken at a truck stop.

** And "Army Ants," which is made entirely out of quotes from nature encyclopedias, sounds like a psychotic conspiracy theory.

** He also used the lines "I wear this crown of thorns/Upon my liar's chair" from the censored version instead of the original "I wear this crown of shit/Upon my liar's chair" to draw a connection to Jesus.

** "God's Gonna Cut You Down," also known as "Run On," is a traditional folk song that has been recorded by several artists. Perhaps the best known recent examples are Johnny Cash and Moby. Cash's version almost sounds like it's being sung by an Old West gunslinger about to clean up town. Moby's version is more upbeat and gospel-inspired.

* While we're on the subject of the Man in Black, "Folsom Prison Blues" was never exactly [[Lighter and Softer]], but Nine Pound Hammer's cover of it is grittier and rawer than the original, making it come across as resigned, rather than regretful.

** Unto Ashes also did a cover. It's really depressing.

* What happens when the [[Black Eyed Peas]] release a song ("My Humps") that [[Stealth Parody|tries to parody]] the mindless materialism and misogyny of crunk rap, and [[Parody Failure|winds up sounding just as stupid as the source material?]] Have [[Alanis Morissette]] sing the song [http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=W91sqAs-_-g exactly as written] [[Lyrical Dissonance|in her famous angsty style]], turning it into a tongue-in-cheek lament of the same while simultaneously getting the song's original intended message across.

* Pete Townshend's electro-pop cover of Bob Dylan's folk ballad "Girl of the North Country" alters two lines in the song's final verse, changing it from a song about a man wondering how his old flame is doing these days, to a song about a man wondering if his old flame is still alive [[After the End|after a devastating nuclear war.]]

** They also covered "Viva Las Vegas" in a similar manner. Although in that case they only used a few lyrical changes ("Let me roll a 7 with every shot" notably becomes "Got coke up my nose to dry away the snot") and just let the dripping sarcasm in Jello Biafra's voice do the rest.

** [[Scrubs]] had [[The Cast Showoff|Ted]] do an accoustic version with a guitar at a wedding. It was turned into an actually sweet love song.

** Not to mention their cover of The Beatles' "Day Tripper", which transformed a lighthearted ode to LSD into a mournful lament on being driven to suicide by an apathetic lover.

** Or their cover of Seals and Croft's "Summer Breeze," which becomes a song about domestic violence. At the very least.

* Everyone in the world may well have covered Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl", but Scottish indie band Travis totally change the meaning with their cover, turning a [[Les Yay]]-infested hit single into a folk-tinged ballad about a gay man questioning his sexuality.

** Same with Attack!Attack!'s cover.

*** Almost better - a curiously threatening version of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e7uLil65us Oops I Did It Again].

** Meanwhile, William Fitzsimmons' cover turns it into a song about a straight guy who might be cheating on his girlfriend.

** On the same album [[Jimmy Eat World]] turns the song "New Religion", originally a hyperactive rant about information overload, into a somber reflection on belief.

* The Nouvelle Vague takes the Upbeat Billy Idol Hit "Dancing With Myself" [[Covered Up|(originally by the Band Generation X which included Idol)]] and changes it into a Bossa Nova song about depression and alcoholism.

** Applying this trope to 80s songs via Bossa Nova versions is basically Nouvelle Vague's raison d'etre. The best is their take on The Clash's "The Guns of Brixton", which turns the bouncy gangster tune into a deeply creepy (yet sexy) cabaret number about life in a fascist dystopia.

* A strange example of self-cover with Juan Luis Guerra, he recorded two versions of his song "Amor de Conuco" about ten years apart. The original was a happy song of a humble man declaring himself and his love interest accepting him anyway, sung in a duet with a female singer. The second version was more slow and downbeat... and he [[The Cover Changes the Gender|sang the parts that were originally from the girl's perspective]], making the song the man's own full declaration and turning it in a declaration of hopeless love.

* Barathrum's "Last Day in Heaven" is about an invasion of Heaven, with demons slaughtering angels and so forth. In the second verse of ''Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus''' cover, [[Authority Equals Asskicking|God]] enters the fray and [[Curb Stomp Battle|shows]] why [[Rage Against the Heavens|raging against Heaven]] is a bad idea.

* [http://armcannon.com Armcannon] did a heavy metal cover of the famous Ghostbusters theme (Bhost Gusters to fans). And the Drummer dressed up as a pizza just for this song during a rehearsal. Pure. Awesome.

** And then its slooooooooow version in "Black Hole Enlightenment".

* The Gourds' [[Misattributed Song|commonly misattributed]] cover of "Gin and Juice."

* [[REM|R.E.M's]] "It's The End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", a song whose humor is extremely subdued, was put in the hands of upbeat Canadian East Coast folksters [[Great Big Sea]], sped up (requiring [[Motor Mouth]] lyrics, given the sheer obtuseness of them) and turned into a a great happy tune about meeting the end of the world with a smile on your face.

** They also alter the lyrics slightly to make it about an actual sickness, rather than a metaphor for societal oppression.

** For that matter, Disturbed's covers themselves usually become this (usually much angrier and occasionally cynical). The only time they don't do this is when covering bands they like.

* [[Scissor Sisters]]' [[Love It or Hate It|not universally loved]] cover of the [[Pink Floyd]] classic "Comfortably Numb" brings out a different facet. The original is overflowing with angst, about someone who can't quite get numb '''enough'''. The remake sounds like someone who really has been medicated into oblivion, to the point of losing both their neuroses and their identity, and is ''loving every minute of it''.

* The original "The Girl From Ipanema", in Portuguese, was more of a praise to said girl. The English version ([[The Elevator From Ipanema|you know the one]]) is all about the [[Unrequited Love]].

* [[Nine Inch Nails]]' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjsUkExCcQ4 Closer] done by Jane Distortion has the the psycho-sexual oddness of the original, but it's very... different, mood-wise.

* "The Metro" by Berlin: A poppy, somewhat sad song about moving on after a bad breakup. "The Metro" by [[System of a Down]]: a rage-filled rant about being abandoned by a loved one.

* [[Looney Tunes|Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck]] once turned [[The Beatles]] "Hello, Goodbye" into a [[Duck Season! Rabbit Season!]] argument.

'''Daffy:''' I say hello! }}

** ''Bugs & Friends Sing the Beatles'' did this to a number of songs.

** While the Butthole Surfers' version... God knows what it does to it, exactly. Safe to say they don't exactly approach it with the most reverential tone.

** Also, Krokus' version, where it becomes just another song about dumping a groupie.

* The [[Pet Shop Boys]]' cover of "Always On My Mind" completely changed the meaning of the song by ending it with the line "Maybe I didn't love you".

*** The orchestral instrumentation, allegedly not intentionally based on the Soviet anthem, and the music video also give a nod to an entirely different context: former Soviet citizens having the ability to literally "go West" to freedom after the fall of Communism. This context also has a layer of hopeless optimism.

* "Merry Christmas From The Family" by Robert Earl Kean is a song about a dysfunctional family in a trailer park having a drunken Christmas filled with disasters and red-neck jokes. Jill Sobule's cover uses the exact same words to produce a song describing a dysfunctional family in a trailer park...having a wonderful Christmas filled with singing children, quirky relatives and a relative performing a last minute Christmas miracle.

* [[Screeching Weasel]] did a cover of "Johnny Are You Queer?" by Josie Cotton. Cotton's version is about a girl who is concerned that her boyfriend might not be interested in her because he's gay. Screeching Weasel's version has a male singer similarly worried about the sexuality of his male love interest. Both versions are ridiculously catchy.

* Swedish Lotta Engberg's "Juliette & Jonathan", which reached third place in Melodifestivalen 1996, describes a young couple who find love together in spite of racial and cultural differences. When Finnish singer Anna Eriksson covered the song one year later, it retained the "us against the world" theme, but reverses the outcome of the story; instead of being protected by nature itself and serving as inspiration for other lovers, "Juliet ja Joonatan" end up as restless spirits and love "shatters into pieces, sharp as the shards of glass marbles." [[American Kirby Is Hardcore|Finnish schlager is hardcore]], indeed.

** And Pansy Division's version inserts the word "sodomy" and takes it to a different place. Though, given Rob Halford's more recent revelations, perhaps not...

* The OC [[Re Mix]] "Eyes On Me: Obsession" by Children of The Monkey Machine feat. Dani changes the [[Silly Love Songs|Silly Love Song]] from ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' into an [[Obsession Song]]. The lyrics are spoken out loud and sound like Julia explaining to the police in an interrogation room why she had to murder Laguna.

* [[Eric Clapton]] did this with his own song "Layla". The original electric version is a young man, pining so hard for the woman he loves that he's raging. The acoustic version, a few decades later, is an older man softly regretting the love that was lost.

* Brian Setzer plays an extremely upbeat rock version of ''Danny Boy'' as "Irish" Terry Conklin's boxing ring entry music in ''[[The Great White Hype]]''. However, this version was never released on CD and fans have been clamoring for it for years.

* The Irish traditional song "The Foggy Dew" has been played in a variety of manners by many artists, anywhere from a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13MQFCfCYdQ melancholy lament] to a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28Bq_2soGIA furious rebel anthem].

** "Because the Night" is interesting, as, while Springsteen first wrote the song, he did not record or perform it until after Smith's version, and later performances have shifted closer to Smith's lyrics.

** Speaking of Patti Smith, her cover of Van Morrison's ''Gloria'' contains ''just barely'' enough elements of the original song to qualify as a cover, as she nearly triples its length, ''averts'' [[The Cover Changes the Gender]] with gratuitous amounts of [[Ho Yay]], and conflates the song with the hymn of the same name and her personal disillusionment with organized religion, to the point that the song's refrain is "Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine".

** Patti Smith's cover of "Hey Joe," a song of dubious authorship but famously recorded by The Leaves and especially Jimi Hendrix, adds a spoken word intro about the Symbionese Liberation Army's 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst. In addition, the lyrics themselves cast Hearst as the titular "Joe."

* Let's not forget The [[Doug Anthony All Stars]]' baritone version of "I Am Woman" ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49mFJRWYhqo here]), which lends a whole new meaning to the feminist anthem.

* When dance-punk band !!! covered Nate Dogg's party jam "Get Up," it ''seemed'' to be relatively straightforward... until about three minutes into the song, when it suddenly became clear that the band is interpreting the line "Shake it baby / Driving me crazy" ''literally''. The remaining 6 minutes are thus comprised of sonic insanity.

* Dweezil Zappa's cover of "Baby One More Time" (yes, originally sung by [[Britney Spears|her]]) is... well, it's odd. And decidedly creepy. Gone from a song which seems to be about break-up sex to something straight out of [[Masochism Tango|masochistic stalker love]].

** That's a mighty interesting tidbit considering Big Mama Thornton's version didn't have the "rabbit" lyric. That lyric was added by Freddie Bell on his version, and though I question that he meant for it to be about virgins, I think it's not outside the realm of possibility. Also, Elvis's version is not about a dog... unless you thought he was THAT oblivious. It's meant to be a metaphor about a guy who's useless, like a dog that's never caught a rabbit.

* [[Rufus Wainwright]]'s cover of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows" changes...well, suddenly it sounds like its set amidst a casino underworld that's about to crumble and is having one last revel in its own shallowness and debauchery. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J26UlYXPi7o Worth a listen]

* Black Nail Cabaret actually managed to turn the [[Britney Spears]] pop anthem [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxRBoa8ROvc "Hit Me Baby One More Time"] into a dark, gothic, and [[Head-Tiltingly Kinky]] bit of [[Fetish Fuel]].

* When [spunge] covered J. Geils' Band's Centerfold, the upbeat, yet regretful tale of a crush-turned-nudie model, into a quick paced skaterpunk's tale of almost drunken woe over a lost love's new life as a magazine model.

* Reel Big Fish covered Sublime's "Boss DJ," turning a mellow acoustic song into a reggae-styled ska song.

** And then, of course, the version sung by Bette Midler in [[Hocus Pocus]] makes the titular "spell" ''literal''.

* The legendary J-Pop producer [[Miyuki Nakajima]]'s classic ''Ashita'' (Tomorrow) has two very different sounding cover versions:

* One where just the artist name and the song, if you're familiar with the latter, is enough to make clear the change of meaning of the song: Sarah Jane Morris, "[[Les Yay|Me and Mrs. Jones]]".

* The cover band the Bon Bon Club released as part of their first EP an incredibly, incredibly creepy version of the song "Dreams" that seems to make it about a someone imprisoning their lover.

* "Feelings", originally a romantic song made by Morris Albert in [[The Seventies]], was picked up by [[The Offspring]] and reworked into a fast and furious song about hatred.

* Boys of Summer, originally by Don Henley (male) and covered many, many times (most notably the female vocals used by DJ Sammy) changes the perspective depending on the gender singing. It's either the male singing he's still be waiting for the woman after her summer relationships are over or the woman singing she'll return to him once her summer boyfriends leave. All without changing a single word, just the gender of the singer.

** And their cover of "I Turn To You" by Diane Warren sounds very aggressive.

* [[Emilie Autumn]]'s cover of ''Crazy He Calls Me,'' by Billy Holiday, turns it simultaneously into a post-apocalyptic echo ''and'' a song about a woman's slide into madness.

** The version by [[Zooey Deschanel|She & Him]] ends up flipping the genders of the speakers, thus adding another interpretation of the woman trying to seduce the man.

* The Checkmates' "Black Pearl" was originally about falling in love with a black woman, but Kandystand, who has a female vocalist, turned it into a [[Ho Yay|Les Yay]] song.

* The cover of OMD's ''Enola Gay'' by Nouvelle Vague completely changes the tone of this poppy, bouncy Hiroshima bombing themed song into something yet more creepy and intense.

* [[John Mellencamp]] did two covers of "Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis Presley. The original was a silly showtune with a somewhat notorious moment of (intentional?) [[Ho Yay]], but Mellencamp recasts the song in a minor key with mostly acoustic instruments to make a song that sounds like a hot prison yard with absolutely nothing for the inmates to do except party half-heartedly.

* "Kill Your Sons," an unreleased [[Velvet Underground]] anti-war [[Protest Song]], was later rewritten slightly by Lou Reed to be about his parents' attempts to [[Cure Your Gays|"cure" his bisexuality]].

* [[UB 40]]'s cover of Jimmy Cliff's ''Many Rivers To Cross'' turned the song from one of melancholy to one of empowerment.

* Bruce Cockburn's song "Lovers In A Dangerous Time" is a stark guitar ballad that was written to emphasize anger (especially in the music video) about the racial, socio-economic and political issues of the decade, and how they reflect on love. The [[Barenaked Ladies]]' version from the 1992 ''Kick At The Darkness: The Songs of Bruce Cockburn'' tribute album is a faster-paced, softer and almost wistful tune. The group is resigned and cheerful about the fact that "sometimes you're made to feel as if your love's a crime". The Ladies' music video, which goes from floaty slo-mo to frantic, and includes lots of comedic bits, just emphasizes it.

* A particularly [[Egregious]] example with Israeli composer Naomi Shemer, who in 1973 decided she would write new words for [[The Beatles]]' ''Let it Be'' inspired by the breakout of the [[Darkest Hour|Yom Kippur War]]. When she played it, her husband said that this is a Jewish song now and it should have a Jewish melody to go with it, so she... [[Darker and Edgier|Tweaked]]... The melody to be more in the spirit of the new lyrics, ending up with less of a cover and more of a [[Gritty Reboot]]. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY3hroxabtU Here] is an Israel's-American-Idol contestant performing it. The lyrics with an English translation can be found [http://www.hebrewsongs.com/?songID=176 here], and note that this is the watered-down version without the verse that starts with "If your soul wishes for death".

* Seal's "Crazy" is a somewhat whimsical love song based around the line, "But we're never going to survive unless we get a little a crazy." When Me First and the Gimme Gimmes covered it, the song's tone was kept intact, but when Cleveland-based metal band Mushroomhead released their version, it comes across as a man losing his religion and resigning himself to madness.

* Gary Numan's "Down In the Park": a dark '80s synth song about robots. The Foo Fighters cover is substantially more apocalyptic, somehow.

* Stuart Gorrell originally wrote the lyrics of "Georgia on My Mind" for Georgia Carmichael, sister of Hoagy Carmichael, who wrote the music. However, Georgia native [[Ray Charles]], finding the lyrics to be ambiguous enough to refer to the state as well, dedicated his performance of the song (the B-side of his hit single "What'd I Say?") to the state. "Georgia on My Mind" became the Georgia state song in 1979, mostly because of Charles' cover.

* Mary Chapin Carpenter did this to her ''own'' song; the original album version of "Can't Take Love For Granted" was slow and regretful, but a later compilation album featured a live version that had a much more upbeat, rock-type tempo. It turned it from a sad post-breakup song into a "well, you're gone and I learned my lesson, but hey, I'm feeling okay about it!"

* The Polyphonic Spree's celebratoy cover of [[Nirvana|Lithium]] works about as often as it doesn't since some lyrics can be taken at face value and others are [[Lyrical Dissonance|"I killed you, I'm not gonna crack"]]

 

== Songs N-Z ==

** Ironically, it's actually [[Flanderizationa|Flanderizing of the most popular version]]: Dusty Springfield was openly bisexual, so you can imagine how "the only boy who could ever reach me" went over when the song was first released.

* "Le moribond" ("The Dying Man") by Belgian singer [[Jacques Brel]] is better known to English-speaking audiences as "Seasons in the Sun". In this form it has been covered by multiple artists, most recently [[Westlife]]. The original is a song about a cheating wife, and it was freely modified when translated into English by Rod [[Mc Kuen]] (and bent even further by Terry Jacks); the original is substantially snarkier, with the singer taking digs at his best friend, who is the one who his wife was cheating with, and who apparently didn't realize the husband knew everything.

* The Delaney & Bonnie/Carpenters song "Superstar" is about a groupie, but the ghostly, eerie quality of Sonic Youth's cover makes it sound like it's about a dead lover.

** He also did a reimagining of "The Hokey Kokey" and "Combine Harvester" by The Wurzels as if they were both done by Kraftwerk of all people.

* Talking Heads took Al Green's rather upbeat "Take Me to the River" and turned it into a funky, eerie narrative, complete with ominous atmospheric keyboards and David Byrne's [[Creepy Monotone|menacing, on-the-edge delivery]].

* Spineshank covered the legendary Beatles' song "While my Guitar Gently Weeps." This version turns a guitar driven song about the relative connection between all things into a critique of society and human nature through the eyes of a unchanging passive observer. The vocalist screams and chants the lyrics as if calling out the world around him for it's mistakes.

** ...The original "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" ''is'' a critique of society and human nature through the eyes of a unchanging passive observer.

* The Blind Boys of Alabama took [[Depeche Mode]]'s "Personal Jesus," which is supposed to be about Elvis Presley and sounded like a mocking of religious faith, and turned it into a straight-up Gospel song.

** They also set "Amazing Grace" to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun."

* [[Bob Dylan]]'s song "When the Ship Comes In" is an apocalyptic protest song about all the people who will be up against the wall when the revolution comes. In the hands of The Pogues, however, it sounds like the boat is full of drunken, cheerful pirates.

** The Bank of Montreal's use of a children's choir to sing ''The Times, They Are a-Changin' ''was not only vaguely weird, but also completely subverted the meaning of the song. As comedien [[This Hour Has 22 Minutes|Rick Mercer]] once put it: "What used to be an anthem against people like the bank is now a jingle ''for'' the bank. If you listen closely you can hear the sound of Woody Guthrie spinning in his grave."

* Iron & Wine covered the Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" and changed it from a synthpop acid trip of a love song into something more poignant and sweet.

** It should be pointed out that Iron & Wine could cover anything from Metallica to John Phillip Sousa and make it sound poignant and sweet.

* Missy Higgins covered the Skyhooks song, "You Just Like Me 'Cause I'm Good In Bed," which, without changing any actual pronouns, changes the story from "guy dealing with nymphomaniac girlfriend" to "girl struggling with being used for her body."

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MejtR81RzCo Satisfaction] by The Rolling Stones is a mid-tempo song about a man's frustration with his sex life, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pMqSyIwmA8 Satisfaction] by [[Devo]] is a fast-paced rant against consumerism, and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AX2bcWtg1Q&feature=related Satisfaction] by [[PJ Harvey]] and [[Bjork]] is what happens right before insanity.

** Phyllis Diller's version of the song is a self-deprecating tune about how much it sucks to be Phyllis Diller.

* Not so much "The Cover Changes the Meaning" as "The Cover has Absolutely Nothing to do with the Original": The Yardbirds recorded a somewhat obscure ambient chanting-type song called "Still I'm Sad." Rainbow then took the basic melody, removed all the words, and rerecorded it as a 70s hard-rocker. The live version has the lyrics again, but expands the whole thing into 10 minutes of [[Epic Rocking]].

** The sitcom fantasy episode also ended with a melancholy cover of the ''[[Cheers]]'' theme, as JD is seen leaving the harsh tragedies of the hospital to seek some comfort and escapism in television sitcoms. Tragically, this performance is removed for the DVD release of the season.

** They also had Ted singing an acoustic version of Hey Ya while J.D. monologued about relationships. Wow.

* [[Amanda Palmer]]'s cover of "What's the Use of Won'drin" from Carousel is a depiction of domestic violence and misogyny. Even when done straight, [[Values Dissonance]] makes it pretty hard not to see the song any other way. The creepy music box style Amanda does it in makes it even more obvious, though. At some points in the song, a woman can be heard faintly sobbing.

** She covered her own song, "Oasis", making it more "serious" when people complained that the song was making light of rape and abortion.

* The Maia Hirasawa version of The Ark's "The Worrying Kind" takes the over-the-top [[Camp]] lyrics of the original and sings them, slowed down, without a hint of irony. The effect is surreal, to say the least.

* [[Flyleaf]]'s cover of "What's This?" from ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]''.

** To elaborate, the original is [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|incredibly excited]] about Christmas, while Flyleaf's cover sounds scared of the changes.

** Similarly we have [[Marilyn Manson]]'s cover of "This Is Halloween." Whereas the original is talking about a land of wonder - albeit a morbid one - the Manson cover comes off as truly being a hellish place where they delight in the torment in store for you. When Manson sings "That's our job but we're not mean," [[Nightmare Fuel|you know]] [[Blatant Lies|he's lying.]]

* Richard Thompson covers the traditional Irish song, "She Moves Through The Fair", and changes one word. The last verse usually goes, "Last night she came to me/my own love came in", and RT changes it to, "Last night she came to me, my '''dead''' love came in". Changes the meaning of the song ''completely''

** And on the subject of Richard Thompson: [[Britney Spears]]' original version of "Oops, I Did It Again" was sung as if she genuinely didn't realise she was leading someone on so much. Richard Thompson's performance was of someone who knew exactly what he was doing.

* Erma Franklin's "Piece of My Heart" is a song of defiance in the face of her unfaithful man. [[Janis Joplin]] sang it with a rage not commonly seen from female vocalists. Faith Hill, who really should have known better, then pissed all over both their graves with her flighty, bubble-gummy cover.

* Soft Cell's version of "Tainted Love": A poppy, up-beat take on a failing relationship. Coil's take on "Tainted Love": A slow dirge likely reflecting the last thoughts of a man dying of AIDS.

** [[Covered Up|Gloria Jones']] version of "Tainted Love": An angry and defiant take on a failing relationship.

* People who've only heard the Joe Cocker or Tom Jones versions of "You Can Leave Your Hat On" will know it as an amourous come-on; the original, by Randy Newman, is a lot more sinister - the narrator is meant to sound seedy and lecherous.

** ''Any'' version of the song can sound a bit seedy and definitely lecherous.

** Gob's cover of it has a relentless, driving feeling of a losing grip on sanity, and somehow also manages to sound almost happy about it.

** When [[The Residents]] play "Paint it Black", it's a song about complete insanity and hatred for all living things or near-suicidal depression and loss, depending on the performance.

* Paloma Faith took [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9hazmsUxrM what can only be described as the most typical song ever written] ("Sexy Chick" by David Guetta ft. Akon) and recast it into [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xW3zjLPoAI a ballad of envy tinged with lesbian lust that really has to be heard to believed.]

* The original version of ''Respect'' by [[Otis Redding]] was about a henpecked husband pleading with his wife for respect and recognition. Aretha Franklin's cover transformed it into to a song about a woman telling a lover that she wasn't going to accept his dismissive attitude toward her any longer, thus giving birth to a major theme song for Second Wave Feminism.

* During the 2009 Australian Idol season, when contestant Toby chose 'Please Don't Leave Me' for a Pink-themed night, it created this trope along with a slight helping of [[Double Standard]] and [[Unfortunate Implications]] or even [[Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male]] coming from the lyrics, especially lines like "I'll cut you into pieces", and "You're my perfect little punching bag". Judge Ian 'Dicko' Dickson lampshaded this by pointing out that sung by a female (and further example the somewhat lighthearted, [[Affectionate Parody]]/[[Black Comedy]]-esque portrayal of the subject matter in the music video), Pink sounds much like the badass [[Femme Fatale]], but Toby's version would probably come off with a creepy serial killer/wifebasher vibe. [[Your Mileage May Vary]].

** Same thing goes for Marina And The Diamond's version of "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nCRqL5UmN4 Starstrukk]". While the original singers were proud of stringing their lovers along, she sounds far more regretful about it.

* Placebo's version of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill". The original version is quite upbeat and hopeful; Placebo's version is a depressive (and somewhat [[Nightmare Fuel]]-y) lament. It changes the song from about finding God to about a deal with the devil.

* Yael Naim's cover of [[Britney Spears]]' "Toxic"? Her voice makes the song all the more awesome. It's soft, slow, sensual, and truly gives off the air of an addict. Go listen to it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETh0Kfxk2BY&feature=related NOW.]

** [[Maurice White]]'s cover version ''Tomorrow'' changes a classical J-pop sequence into [[Rhythm And Blues]]; comparison [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3gnVtkg-Xk here.]

** The cover version by the Canto-pop singer Hacken Lee, ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2wS64xhQi4 Daybreak]'' downright changes the meaning of the song from star-crossed lovers to a male apologizing for hurting her girl.

* Buckethead's cover of "Pure Imagination" is much more downbeat than the original.

* There are 18 million versions of the Irish folk song "Siul a Ruin". Solas does a sweet, wistful version. Lorelei's verges on emo. And my favorite, the version done by Rosheen, sounds as though the singer is going to pick up her own sword and follow her love into battle.

* The original version of Nirvana's ''Smells Like Teen Spirit'' is a chainsaw of anger hitting an iron spike of angst over something deserved but never received. Tori Amos's cover of that same song is a soulful lament for something once possessed but now lost.

* Bob Dylan's ''To Make You Feel My Love'' plays almost like a desperate cry for help, asking the woman the song is being sung to to not give up on the singer despite the hard times. Garth Brooks's take on the song is confident, rather than desperate, promising the woman that he (the singer) will soothe her hurts and make things all better. A recent cover by Adele is more like an offer being made to a potential love interest that if he chooses her, she would do anything for him.

* "Sweet Dreams" by Eurythmics is about finding fulfillment in your own way. [[Marilyn Manson]]'s cover makes it about the futility of finding meaning in life.

* Jane Sibbery's 1985 hit "One More Colour" (an upbeat Canadian pop song inspired by a developmentally-disabled boy she once met who found joy in looking at the sky) has been covered, to very different intent, by other Canadian musicians. [[Sarah Polley]]'s version (used in ''The Sweet Hereafter'') turns it into a melancholy, almost mournful reflection on the death of innocence, while The Rheostatics' version plays it up as a schizophrenic, fast-paced track full of guitar solos and a "party-like" atmosphere.

* Karmin recorded a duet cover of [[Adele]]'s "Someone Like You". The original was about a childhood friend settling down with someone else, but the cover seems be about the two wishing to get back together, although at least one of them is already married.

* The song "Parachute" was originally written by Ingrid Michaelson, but she wrote it for Cheryl Cole who released it several months before Ingrid's was released; whichever is the cover is a matter of opinion and definition. Cheryl's is far more upbeat (being R&B-Pop) while Ingrid's is mellow. Cheryl's sounds like someone falling in love with someone or who has recently began a relationship, while Ingrid's sounds more like someone talking about a long-time relationship

* Devo's "Beautiful World" is a sarcastic anthem to the facade of happiness in a very flawed and imperfect world. Devo 2.0's "Beautiful World" is a peppy tribute to life and how great it is. It almost seems like the first is a deconstruction of the second.

* Not quite a cover, but [[Scroobius Pip]] did a track based on a quotation from [[Soulja Boy]]'s [[Hatedom|much maligned]] "Crank Dat" to make it about ''literal'' soldier boys. "Soldier Boy, now ''kill'' 'em, we need YOU!!!"

* Imogen Heap's cover of [[Michael Jackson|"Thriller"]] changes it from a slightly creepy but mostly catchy dance number into an eerie, melancholy song that in some ways matches the lyrics much better.

* The english song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kud96a_5r3s Slowly] by the swedish band Gemini, it's a ballad in which the lyrics talk about how the love in a relationship is gone and they're about to part ways, while the spanish cover [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1TbOGu8Olg Muriendo Lento] by the mexican band Timbiriche, while retaining the same music and guitar riff, changed the lyrics so that the relationship is over, but the couple miss each other and want to be together again.

* Absolutely any cover made by Laibach. One notable example is their version of [[Queen]]'s "One Vision," which is translated into German to highlight the unintentional fascist undertones of the original. Compare [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_1IMZmJe-U&feature=related this] to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YE_j0xIsJA this].

** Another good example is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhkvR9uMyU4 Laibach's cover of "Sympathy for the Devil".] While the original Rolling Stones version sounds as if Lucifer is just some sort of [[Trickster]], the Laibach version makes it sound as if Lucifer is just toying with someone before sucking their soul out of their nose.

** The results were mixed: she did lovely, lovely covers of "Rattlesnakes," "Enjoy The Silence," "Time," and "Real Men." However, the covers of "Heart of Gold" and "Happiness is a Warm Gun" were... not some of her best work, to say the least. (The cover of "Happiness is a Warm Gun" is something like ''ten minutes long.''). [[Your Mileage May Vary]], of course. It is worth noting that "Heart of Gold" is practically a garage-rock song in her hands.

** Amos enjoys doing this in general: since she can pick up a song just by listening to it, she tends in live concerts to, say, turn "Livin' On a Prayer" into a sensitive piano ballad. Part of the reason her concerts get so heavily bootlegged is that this is pretty much the only way to get those covers.

* [[Prince]]'s "When You Were Mine" was about a guy whose live-in kinda-sorta girlfriend gets involved with another man. Lauper's version is about a woman whose live-in kinda-sorta boyfriend gets involved with... another man. And is a transvestite.

** In particular, the line "Dont'cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me?" sounds way different comming from Al than [[Ms. Fanservice]].

** As does the "I Kissed A Girl" lines from "Polka Face"

** The best example has to be "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," which John Lennon originally wrote about his obsession with Yoko Ono. ''Across the Universe'' had it sung by army recruitment officers (who happen to live right in the middle of the [[Uncanny Valley]]) as Max is being drafted. Towards the end of the song, the drafted soldiers are carrying the statue of Liberty as a battering ram through the Vietnamese jungle while they lament "She's so HEAVY!". [[Captain Obvious|It is very symbolic]].

* Another Beatles example: The soundtrack to [[I Am Sam]] is full of modern covers of Beatles songs. While most are just straight-up covers, Howie Day's cover of "Help!" and Paul Westerberg's "Nowhere Man" are both slow, sad, minor-key versions of the original upbeat major-key songs, and change the meaning of the songs significantly. Interestingly enough, John Lennon's original take on "Help!" was closer to Day's cover, but he was told to make it up tempo so it would sell as a single. In that regard, the cover is closer to the song's original meaning, since Lennon was fairly distraught when he wrote it.

** Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite (Billy Connolly) turns the whole thing back into the PT Barnum poster it was, by having Connolly sound like a ringleader and playing up the circus music sound.

** In My Life (Sean Connery) is turned into a spoken word song, that sounds like an old man reflecting on his long life and on what he has now, effectively reversing the original meaning. This carries some extra weight considering this was the last song on the last album George Martin ever produced.

* Several of the cuts on the album that Tom Waits did ''Heigh-Ho'' for (''[[wikipedia:Stay Awake (album)|Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films]]'' is made up of these:

** Sun Ra and His Arkestra do a cover of ''Pink Elephants On Parade'' that's positively surreal.

** They also have a song called "Pet Name" which does this ''within the same song''. It starts out sounding unhappy and frustrated about the ebbing of the tenderness in the relationship, and ends up upbeat and happy that the couple have got past the lovey-dovey stage and on to something real. This is all conveyed through the arrangement and delivery, not the lyrics.

** In a more traditional version of this trope, John Flansburgh recorded an eerie, drum machine heavy version of Gary Glitter's "Hello Hello, I'm Back Again" with Joshua Fried that makes the song sound almost like a death threat.

* Puncolle Voice Actress' Legendary Punk Collection is a collection of covers of punk and grunge songs by J-pop idols, turning songs like "Anarchy in the UK" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" into something rather surreal. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH6cASSPBoo Samples here].

** And on the flip-side to that, the ''Punk Goes...'' album collection is arguably trying to evoke this trope. Such as Punk Goes Pop, or Punk Goes Crunk.

** Notably, the Jonas brothers' cover of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" gets a lot creepier with a gender flip. When a noticeably villainous female is telling you to "hold [your] tongue" to get guys to like you, you know it's not true. (Well, except that in [[Real Life]] it sometimes is....) When hot boys are singing it, and the hot boys are supposed to be virgin icons of teen hormones... yeah.

*** Is it just me, or does the slight change in the lyrics -that is "well, a witch" being changed to "kinda strange" and "magic" being changed to "secret" in the first verse- make the whole song sound like a drug dealer talking about his customers? Seriously.

* [[Metallica]] has a habit of covering songs and making them... somewhat darker. For example, Bob Seger's "Turn The Page" - the original was was a slightly-bitter lament about a musician's life on the road. Metallica's version sounds like said musician is one bad gig away from turning a shotgun on ''somebody''.

** The the video for Turn the Page turned it into a song about either A) a stripper who had a kid or B) a single mother who turned to stripping; either way the entire thing screams of hardship and desperation, and an anger at the world that looks down on her for being stuck in such a spot... Yet somehow ends on a [[Hope Spot]] with her realizing that life is hard, but she and her daughter will keep pushing and make it through in the end.

** Also, Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy" is certainly tongue-in-cheek ("walking down the street/shooting people that I meet/with my rubber tommy water gun"). Metallica's version is certainly sociopathic ("walking down the street/shooting people that I meet/with my fully loaded tommy gun").

* The entire "vocalese" subgenre of jazz does this by necessity, as it consists in adding lyrics to songs that were originally instrumentals.

* Susanna and the Magical Orchestra's album ''Melody Mountain'' was a whole album of these. Their cover of AC/DC's 'Long Way to the Top' is positively ''tragic''.

* The Kid Stuff Repertory Company recorded [http://wayoutjunk.blogspot.com/2009/01/songs-from-your-good-man-charlie-brown.html this album] in which they sang their own version of the songs from ''[[Peanuts|You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown]]''. Among their weird interpretations of the songs, the most notable is that their version of the title song goes from sounding fun and boisterous to something you'd expect to hear at a funeral.

''together we create the glorious and resounding!'' }}

** Another example: Luis Miguel's ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDssh2VuGJM Culpable o no?]'' cover ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0XBV0_5AQ0 Who hasn't been wrong?]'' were of completely different content. The former is "just tell a lie to me that you haven't cheated" while the latter is mainly "why do my life sucked so hard?"

** They managed to turn [[Lady Gaga|"Poker Face"]] into a bittersweet duet between [[The Ingenue|ingenue]] Rachel and her biological mother about how it's best that they keep their distance from each other.

** They also managed to turn [[The Beatles|I Want to Hold Your Hand]] into a solo about a son's love to his father. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhGWC4yq_Yg&feature=related It is heartbreaking.]

** They also turned ''[[Fleetwood Mac|Landslide]]'' from a song about a woman questioning wheter she whould break up with her childhood sweetheart into a song about a young woman realizing that she is in love with her (female) best friend. It is utterly insane how the lyrics fits both these scenarios.

** "Only The Good Die Young" goes from a song about wanting to get into a Catholic girl's pants to a song about ignoring religious restrictions and enjoying life.

** [[REM|"Losing My Religion"]] seems to be a song about embarrassment over a public quarrel, possibly between lovers (we're talking about [[The Walrus Was Paul|R.E.M. here]]), and the title comes from the band's home state of Georgia, where it's an expression for losing one's temper and behaving violently. ''Glee'' on the other hand seem to have taken the title literally since they made it into a song about a boy questioning his faith in God.

* [[The Muppet Show]] did numerous cover versions which often gave a literal twist to the lyrics. For example, [[The Beatles]] 'I'm Looking Through You' was originally about a couple arguing. The Muppets version is sung by two ghosts to a third.

* [[Dianne Warren]]'s "[[Con Air|How Do I Live]]" and "[[Armageddon|I Don't Want to Miss A Thing]]" were once perfectly straightly-intended, honest, if cliché, [[Award Bait Song|award bait songs]]. Then Michael Bowman of the ''[[Homestuck]]'' music team covered them, giving them both a facetious satirical [[Stylistic Suck]] treatment almost dripping in cheese and irony, emphasising just how [[Silly Love Songs|incredibly silly]] they are. Bowman later acknowledged their original intention when releasing a second "How Do I Live" cover, [[Subverted Trope|this one played]] [[Tear Jerker|even straighter and serious than the original version]], saying that he wanted to give a perfectly good song its dues in intent.

* Vitamin String Quartet, Vitamin Piano Series and Pickin' On Series make a business out of making songs into string instrumentals, piano instrumentals, and bluegrass tunes respectively. In some cases this vastly changes the feel of the song.

* The Beautiful South's 'Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs' takes, among many others, S Club-7's "Don't Stop Moving" from a up-beat pop song about good music at a club to a slow, almost threatening song about spinning out of control under the hand of an unseen puppet-master, and their cover of "You're The One That I Want" from Grease takes it down a few notches and turns it sensuous and decadent.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Music Tropes]]