"The original is better." "This doesn't even sound like the first one." "Rip-off!"
Shut up-puh!
I'm of the school that thinks a song is meant to be sung. If you think of a song as a product, you're making an entertainment lawyer very happy. If you think of it as expression, you're a human.
The song - With Every Heartbeat by Robyn (with producer and musician Kleerup):
There are 2 chords. The lyrics don't rhyme. There are no verses, no chorus. The melody meanders. And it's hypnotic and gut wrenching from start to finish. Everything about the song makes sense. There's an almost archetypal quality to the way it interacts with the brain, so it's not surprising in the least that it has inspired covers, homages, tributes, personal interpretations by other artists.
But there are covers, and there are covers. I've had all of the above and below on my playlist for a while and when they follow each other as shuffles are wont to make happen, it's always good. It may be the song itself that is responsible for the newness each time I hear it. But credit must also be given to the originality and quality of each interpretation. I think of each of these covers as a fresh way into it. I wonder if a person uninitiated in the song (with either no English or Swedish or a poor facility for remembering lyrics) would even recognize that they share the same bones.
Cover 1 - From Swedish Television a live acoustic version in Swedish (För varje hjärtslag) by the mini-super group of Anna Järvinen (metronome, harmonica, chimes and elvishness) & Annika Norlin (accordion and intense stare):
Cover 2 - The Lonesome Animals' dreamy California-esque ear bath:
Cover 3 - Another live version from Sweden, in Swedish, by Linnea Algeblad (at the piano) and Johanna Blomberg (harmonies) who strip everything to its refined, sublime essence:
Cover 4 - An entrancing countrified version from baskery:
Finally Robyn covers herself:
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