Oof, this is like when the therapist listens to your whole BS story and then they’re like “Can I tell you what I’m noticing?” and you know the gig is up, and you’re gonna have to face hard things… Very few of us can stomach (or sing) that truly “harrowingly pathetic” vulnerability—but life insists that is the only way.
Your pen should make every artist, dead or alive, tremble. I had to do one of those physiological sighs before I began this piece. I knew you wouldn’t let up. The only thing I wish is you could travel back in time and take on everyone who made audacity get the better of them (on the world stage). Maybe we wouldn’t be here with a dead Jolene. Great, deep piece! Also, had to listen to Bjork and Dilla.
Thank you Harmony for making me reflect about how I cover a song.
I'm a musician with more than 555 songs in my repertoire and most of them, well you guessed it, are covers. I always have two mottos when I tackle a song:
- Serve the song!
- Forget the original!
When you hear my version of The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby or Sheryl Crow's Strong Enough, you may be surprised how they are quite extreme. Others have slight adjustments like some brushes on the snare drum and my backup vocals on Kevin Gilbert's Song For A Dead Friend that I used to sing so many times over the original.
When I perform my version of Toto's Hold The Line with my band, some people come up to me afterwards just to tell me that it took them a while until they realised who played the original.
But the biggest eye opener happened when I thought about CCR's Bad Moon Rising, that I had in my repertoire for years, but I barely ever performed it on stage. The reason was that for me it seemed musically always a bit too happy and not really matching the mood of the lyrics. So I rearranged it on my acoustic guitar to a minor blues and I never looked back.
Later my official version on Spotify generated some great feedbacks, because most people wouldn't even have thought of such an angle, although it seems so obvious.
On my YouTube Channel I have a 'Start Your Day With A Song' series where I daily post my performance of one of my repertoire songs. Sometimes just switching from acoustic guitar to piano can change the face and the flavour of song completely.
Also, I love to discover and then cover unknown songs that are truly hidden gems. They deserve a stage like my cover of Tricia Walker's I'll Be Waiting Here For You, that I played for my wife at our wedding ;o)
To make a long story shorter, it doesn't have to be a global hit for me to cover a great song. And style doesn't matter if the song is great.
But still, I'm working on my own new songs to see the light of day and join the rest of my two albums.
P.S.: I just started reading a new chapter in David Hepworth's great book about the Abbey Road Studios, when the topic of covers in the fifties came up:
"Some of the productions which came out of the EMI Studios in the late fifties when they were trying to come up with their own versions of American hits using local talent suggested that the people in charge didn't have the foggiest notion exactly where the sweet spot of the originals lay."
Thank you for posting this and inspiring a deep dive into the new version. Your keen perception of threats spoiling the message rings true in my experience. My interpretation of the revised story is one of a woman who is confident in her relationship with her husband. “Highs and lows and everything between
Good deeds roll in like tumblin' weeds
I sleep good, happy
'Cause you can’t dig up our planted seeds
I know my man's gon' stand by me, breathin' in my gentle breeze…”
Advising Jolene not to waste her time would have been more consistent with the confidence in the marriage than a smoking gun threat.
My favorite line and one that hits me after 19 years of marriage and raising kids: “We've been deep in love for twenty years
I raised that man, I raised his kids…”
A picture of a strong woman who helped shape the man who is so attractive to other women. And let’s face it, there’s nothing sexier (or a bigger challenge) than a married man who is loving and faithful to his wife and family. Yet, no threats are necessary for that type of commitment.
Paul Newman comes to mind. Women swooned over him even after years of marriage to Joanne Woodward. When asked about how he handled the temptation to stray during an interview, he replied: “Why go out for hamburger when I have steak at home?” The beef analogy aside, women are highly attracted to that mentality; it creates a sense of not just love, but also security. The two most primal foundations of peace of mind.
I love the idea of a cover as a calling, an act of resurrection in a different form.
You've really hit on something with the egoism in B's cover, and what it masks. The notion of fighting for what you want sounds good on paper in 2024 – I'm not begging, I'm warning you … you don't want that smoke – but when it comes to this song, I miss the intimacy and humility of the more plaintive original. Recognising how fragile and rare this relationship is, even if she's wide open now in her vulnerability.
Yes. I love that Harmony points out that in the bluster (don’t come for my man!) there’s the heartbreak of not being able to admit she can’t actually say “he’s not interested” so much as “I’ll fight you.” Dolly admitted it and in so doing makes clear that the harm is in the man that reduces her to having to beg Jolene (or threaten Jolene).
The conjurer/witness/alchemist channel is wide open here...Whew, damn!
Thank you🙏🏽
Thank you, Mark!
Oof, this is like when the therapist listens to your whole BS story and then they’re like “Can I tell you what I’m noticing?” and you know the gig is up, and you’re gonna have to face hard things… Very few of us can stomach (or sing) that truly “harrowingly pathetic” vulnerability—but life insists that is the only way.
this also reminded me that one of my favorite tracks on her self titled album is “Jealous”—that’s more Beyoncé’s “Jolene” than the cover…
so true, and I love that song, it's really vulnerable I remember being struck by that when first hearing it
Your pen should make every artist, dead or alive, tremble. I had to do one of those physiological sighs before I began this piece. I knew you wouldn’t let up. The only thing I wish is you could travel back in time and take on everyone who made audacity get the better of them (on the world stage). Maybe we wouldn’t be here with a dead Jolene. Great, deep piece! Also, had to listen to Bjork and Dilla.
Thank you!! The Bjork/Dilla playlist is inventing itself and I had to much fun thinking about all of these things in one context
Thank you Harmony for making me reflect about how I cover a song.
I'm a musician with more than 555 songs in my repertoire and most of them, well you guessed it, are covers. I always have two mottos when I tackle a song:
- Serve the song!
- Forget the original!
When you hear my version of The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby or Sheryl Crow's Strong Enough, you may be surprised how they are quite extreme. Others have slight adjustments like some brushes on the snare drum and my backup vocals on Kevin Gilbert's Song For A Dead Friend that I used to sing so many times over the original.
When I perform my version of Toto's Hold The Line with my band, some people come up to me afterwards just to tell me that it took them a while until they realised who played the original.
But the biggest eye opener happened when I thought about CCR's Bad Moon Rising, that I had in my repertoire for years, but I barely ever performed it on stage. The reason was that for me it seemed musically always a bit too happy and not really matching the mood of the lyrics. So I rearranged it on my acoustic guitar to a minor blues and I never looked back.
Later my official version on Spotify generated some great feedbacks, because most people wouldn't even have thought of such an angle, although it seems so obvious.
On my YouTube Channel I have a 'Start Your Day With A Song' series where I daily post my performance of one of my repertoire songs. Sometimes just switching from acoustic guitar to piano can change the face and the flavour of song completely.
Also, I love to discover and then cover unknown songs that are truly hidden gems. They deserve a stage like my cover of Tricia Walker's I'll Be Waiting Here For You, that I played for my wife at our wedding ;o)
To make a long story shorter, it doesn't have to be a global hit for me to cover a great song. And style doesn't matter if the song is great.
But still, I'm working on my own new songs to see the light of day and join the rest of my two albums.
P.S.: I just started reading a new chapter in David Hepworth's great book about the Abbey Road Studios, when the topic of covers in the fifties came up:
"Some of the productions which came out of the EMI Studios in the late fifties when they were trying to come up with their own versions of American hits using local talent suggested that the people in charge didn't have the foggiest notion exactly where the sweet spot of the originals lay."
Thank you for posting this and inspiring a deep dive into the new version. Your keen perception of threats spoiling the message rings true in my experience. My interpretation of the revised story is one of a woman who is confident in her relationship with her husband. “Highs and lows and everything between
Good deeds roll in like tumblin' weeds
I sleep good, happy
'Cause you can’t dig up our planted seeds
I know my man's gon' stand by me, breathin' in my gentle breeze…”
Advising Jolene not to waste her time would have been more consistent with the confidence in the marriage than a smoking gun threat.
My favorite line and one that hits me after 19 years of marriage and raising kids: “We've been deep in love for twenty years
I raised that man, I raised his kids…”
A picture of a strong woman who helped shape the man who is so attractive to other women. And let’s face it, there’s nothing sexier (or a bigger challenge) than a married man who is loving and faithful to his wife and family. Yet, no threats are necessary for that type of commitment.
Paul Newman comes to mind. Women swooned over him even after years of marriage to Joanne Woodward. When asked about how he handled the temptation to stray during an interview, he replied: “Why go out for hamburger when I have steak at home?” The beef analogy aside, women are highly attracted to that mentality; it creates a sense of not just love, but also security. The two most primal foundations of peace of mind.
That said, this album is a masterpiece.
I love the idea of a cover as a calling, an act of resurrection in a different form.
You've really hit on something with the egoism in B's cover, and what it masks. The notion of fighting for what you want sounds good on paper in 2024 – I'm not begging, I'm warning you … you don't want that smoke – but when it comes to this song, I miss the intimacy and humility of the more plaintive original. Recognising how fragile and rare this relationship is, even if she's wide open now in her vulnerability.
Yes. I love that Harmony points out that in the bluster (don’t come for my man!) there’s the heartbreak of not being able to admit she can’t actually say “he’s not interested” so much as “I’ll fight you.” Dolly admitted it and in so doing makes clear that the harm is in the man that reduces her to having to beg Jolene (or threaten Jolene).