When you think of soul music, there is hardly a piece more iconic than Gloria Gaynor\u2019s I Will Survive. Snare drums, piano trills, the funky beat and the intense lyrics, it is hard to listen to that song without feeling powerful, it is impossible not to hear the grain in her voice. However, that is not how I learned the song. Cake\u2019s 1996 cover of \u201cI will Survive\u201d had me singing along even before I knew who Gloria Gaynor was. When A1 describes a cover song as \u201cgiving a song a second life\u201d, or \u201ctaking something familiar and adding a twist\u201d I felt that it didn\u2019t fully grasp the situation. The two songs could not be more different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The original I will survive is something grand. For the first five seconds of the song, the piano dances up and down the keyboard, introducing Gaynor in a flourish. A few seconds later the bet kicks in and it is impossible to not dance along. The song is about a strong woman, proclaiming \u201cI will survive\u201d in the face of heartbreak. She is proud, she is fierce, she is free, Gaynor keeps us dancing as she triumphantly walks away from her former lover. The song is classic 1978 disco jazz, but it is so full of soul that it is impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cake music is unique from the get go, from the muffled guitar, to the speaking tone singing voice of John McCrea, the indie pop style is nothing like the original song. Moreover the lead singer, no longer a woman, paints the story in an entirely different light. The words stay generally the same, except for one part where McCrea swaps Gaynor\u2019s \u201cstupid\u201d to \u201cf***ing\u201d. The song tries to take on a more mature angle, the funk in the song traded for acoustic guitar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tune is the same, the words, more or less are the same as well, but the tone is entirely different. Cake takes an iconic song, and speak it in their own way, even their own rhythm. The same thing that Taylor Swift did to \u2018September\u2019 and, as Huffington Post says \u201cmanages in three minutes to strip the song of its iconic funk elements, its soul, its rhythm.\u201d And she got a lot of flak for that. They say Swift \u201clacks the passion, the liveliness, the rhythm and, frankly, the soul to properly honor the song,\u201d and I fully understand that. She lacks the passion, rhythm, and backstory of the original song in the same way that Cake\u2019s cover lacks the undeniable passion and funkiness of I Will Survive. However although it lacks the familiar tones of the song we have all heard so many times, it brings to light something new. A1 says that covering can be dangerous when it is \u201cContextualizing or misunderstanding something about a song\u201d particularly when it is dealing with race. Cake\u2019s cover of I Will Survive is not a parody, it is not a joke, it is not picking fun of Gaynor or the original work of art, it is something independent and powerful on its own. Even though the stories are told from totally different perspectives, they are both valid, and will both survive in the world of music for a long, long time.
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I Will Survive Gloria Gaynor – https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gYkACVDFmeg<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n I Will Survive (Cake cover) – https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7KJjVMqNIgA<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Huffington Post Article – https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/i-listened-to-taylor-swifts-september-cover-so-yall-wouldnt-have-to_us_5ad0ff15e4b016a07e9c4d82<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n