When one hears a specific song, it is the vocals that produce the meaning of the song. This is what amplifies the meaning because the tone of the artists voice brings to light the emotions that coincide with the song. The instrumentals of the song also play a role as they produce the beat, altering the listeners to not just whether this is an upbeat or slower song, but also whether this song is lighthearted or heavier in its meaning. A specific cover of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” completely altered the meaning of this song for me.
William Shatner’s performance of his cover of “Rocket Man” is especially unique. What intrigued me most was how this song that I have been listening to since I can remember, was given a whole new meaning. This is something that happens with other songs too, one can gather new meanings and theories of what the song is saying when someone sings it differently. Though the lyrics are the same, certain aspects of the lyrics can be amplified or tuned down to make specific elements stand out. Different aspects, such as how a song is presented, or who sings a song, can completely alter or provide additional meaning to a song.
performance, and after the song had existed for over 30 years.
Elton John’s 1972 “Rocket Man” is inspired by a short story that follows of the themes of David Bowie’s 1969 “Space Oddity”. The song is about a man who is having mixed feelings about leaving his family behind as he goes to space for his job. During this time period space was a prominent topic in the United States as the nation was in a space race with Russia, and in 1969 the United States won the race by having the first man walk on the moon. Listening to the song as the audience, Elton John provides an upbeat catchy tune that leaves the audience humming the tune. Shatner’s rendition is not meant to be as much of a song as it is a reading, and this is evident when he treats the lyrics like he’s reading a poem or thinking out loud. His version is evidently more somber, and I found that this slower song allowed me to truly understand and see what the lyrics meant. Shatner barley has any instrumentals, but with Elton John and his heavier use of them, these instrumentals can take over leaving you knowing the tune and rhythm, but not entirely understanding the gravitas of the song’s lyrics. I think that in that sense Elton John’s vocal quality is overshadowed bu the significant instrumental sounds, and though it serves its purpose to provide the lyrics for the song, the lyrics are not given the same importance as the rhythm of the song is. William Shatner allows the lyrics to be the focal of this performance, and through this one pays more attention to what the lyrics are saying rather than to their tune and rhythms. Song lyrics are made to produce any emotion based on the facial expressions and inflections of the person performing it. The pace of Elton John’s version provides an inclination that the tone of the song is happier rather than William Shatner’s version in which the slower pace makes the audience believe the man is sadder and scared about his journey to space. Both versions of the song are effective in being distinct and memorable, the only difference is the meaning that one takes away from the experience.
Another aspect of Shatner’s performance that I found helped in bringing the meaning to life, was the specific visual performance of the song. Being able to see the performers face, the expressions, hand gestures, and overall demeanor, in my opinion was key as it provided another level of context for the emotion of the piece. The effect of music videos is their ability to capture a greater essence of the song, including the emotion behind the song. This is because of how there is a trend these days in which many have found that being able to visit visualize what the audio is discussing helps us better understand the audio. This is what companies like Spotify have realized and have started producing video content with their songs on Spotify, so there is a movement towards wanting to incorporate video with the music we are hearing, (Pulse, 2016).
Elton John’s songs always have a way of making one feel happier or more joyful, no matter what the words are saying. When people then do cover songs, their sole purpose is to find another meaning in the song, or to find a way to simply bring more meaning to the song. Through this some cover songs are more somber than the original. When listening to the 1A podcast on cover songs I was surprised to find that cover songs were the main thing to do back before artists like the Beatles started writing their own songs. This surprised me because my generation has always found cover songs to be a rip off, but through researching cover songs, I have found that certain ones truly do change the course of the song for the better, or they can incorporate parts of the song into a new song bringing new life to the lyrics. “…during the 1980s and 1990s … music was undergoing a qualitative change, and the lines between creativity and imitation, borrowing and artistic larceny, grew increasingly blur…” (Plasketes, 1). This showed that music changed to incorporate cover songs, as cover songs were seen and known to bring in new meanings to the songs.
“The Sounds of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel is one of my favorite songs, and recently I found a cover done by the band Disturbed. I actually came across this song as it played through a pivotal and emotional scene in a TV show “The Blacklist”. The scene was of a husband and wife who were badly injured and were being rushed to the hospital with all their family and friends rushing with them. As Distrubed’s cover of “The Sound of Silence” played I was racked with how different the song felt in this context, and with the artists unique touches to the song. The artist voice is a lot raspier than that of Simon and Garfunkel and this makes the song more painful almost, especially has gradually through the song his voice has louder, and he starts holding notes for longer periods of time. It is almost as if while singing he is feeling the sadness more and more. Simon and Garfunkel’s voices never reach the intensity that Distrubed’s does, their voice remains quieter. Watching the scene unfold in that TV series and hearing the song play definitely brought more of the emotion to light more me. This is an example of how visualizing something helps the audio gain more depth. The combination of the song and the video was entrancing, I think that while both on their own would be emotional, together they show us another experience, almost as if one is in the scene at the time. The effect of music videos or some visual representation with music is inevitable these days.
There is a unique difference between the two covers mentioned. “The Sound of Silence” cover, unlike the “Rocket Man” cover, maintains the main structure of the song sung by the original artist. Shatner however, comes in and completely alters the song’s structure, beat and tone. Plasketes discusses how artists either come in and do a rendition of the song where they retain the structure of the song, or where artists come in and completely alter the entire song along with the emotional outtake. “… Covering songs allows artists to explore and expose their musical roots, pay homage to influences, or perhaps stretch out with uncharacteristic materials,” (Plasketes, 10). What is significant of this discussion in Plasketes paper is that he also questions the merit and integrity of the song when an artist maintains the entire structure of the original song. However, here I agree with Plasketes when he says that,
“With music, the song undergoes a recontextualization; it remains in the same medium, with the artist translating the material into his or her own musical style. Measuring the interpreter’s skill, in part, lies in how well the artist uncovers and conveys the spirit or essence of the original, and enhances the nuances of its melody, rhythm, phrasing, or structure. In the process, the interpretation might offer a fresh insight into the song, its composer, or a particular period,” (Plasketes, 11).
A cover song that can effectively produce a meaning that is believable through the artist’s voice can become a hit and be accepted by a population skeptical about cover songs. Conversely, a cover song like Taylor Swift’s “September”, an attempt to completely alter the song, was poorly received because of how it was felt that “she has morphed one of our culture’s greatest songs into one of them acoustic covers white women who frequent coffee shops love so much,” (Craven, 2018). The significance of this example is that Taylor Swift, as some have said, failed to see the main point and purpose of the song. Here cultural appropriation comes into play as it part of what the song means, and in altering this, Swift was not respecting the specific element of the song that made the song a hit. If a cover song is respectful of the general meaning of the song and its intended impact is retained, then the song can become a hit.
Cover songs and music videos do one main thing for a song, they provide deeper meaning to a song, either watching it or hearing it sung by another artist, opens the song to being interpreted in different ways. With Elton John and William Shatner, watching Shatner’s performance in comparison to Elton John’s shows two completely different desired outcomes for the song. Shatner is reciting the piece as a poem while Elton John recites the piece as the hit song it is. What Shatner was able to do to the song is similar to what Disturbed was able to do with “The Sound of Silence”, they intensified the meaning, held different notes, and emphasized specific tones. Initially thinking about cover songs, I had always found myself hating them, assuming them to a be rip offs, but now I have found that while they are using another artists song, they add their own theories, elements, into the song.
Citations :
Craven, Julia. “I Listened To Taylor Swift’s ‘September’ Cover So Y’all Wouldn’t Have To.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Apr. 2018, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/i-listened-to-taylor-swifts-september-cover-so-yall-wouldnt-have-to_us_5ad0ff15e4b016a07e9c4d82.
Garfunkel, Simon &. “Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds of Silence (Audio).” YouTube, YouTube, 26 Mar. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fWyzwo1xg0.
John, Elton. “Elton John – Rocket Man (Official Music Video).” YouTube, YouTube, 22 May 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtVBCG6ThDk.
Johnson, Joshua. “Take Me On: The Art Of The Cover Song.” 1A, American University Radio, 18 Jan. 2018.
Kajal. “Taylor Swift – September Cover (Earth, Wind & Fire).” YouTube, YouTube, 14 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnDnphYTb0Q.
Pictures, Paramount. Rocket Man. YouTube, YouTube, 1 Oct. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpOGT3GTO84.
Plasketes, George. “Like A Version: Cover Songs and the Tribute Trend in Popular Music.” Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 15, no. 1, 1992, pp. 1–18. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23414475.
Pulse. “Why Music Videos Are Still So Important: Views from inside the Industry.” Medium, Medium, 4 Feb. 2016, medium.com/@pulsefilms/why-music-videos-are-still-so-important-views-from-inside-the-industry-ebaa7d4758d2.
“The Blacklist – Stay with Me (Episode Highlight).” YouTube, 16 Nov. 2017, youtu.be/9KQDOiwhA60.
The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV), director. William Shatner “Sings” ‘Rocket Man’ (1978). YouTube, YouTube, 2 Jan. 2008, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lul-Y8vSr0I.
