The Question of Favorite Music...

The young contestants on American Idol are often faced with a dilemma when trying to cover a famous song. If they try to sing it exactly as it was originally recorded, they're told: "Your version had better be at least as good as and preferably better than the original, or people will find it lacking." This is basically an impossible task for young performers with no experience and without much confidence.

The second option is to change or re-arrange the original song. This tends to upset the judges and viewers as happened, in a prior year's competition, when a female contestant changed Me & Mrs. Jones (Got A Thing Going On) to Me & Mr. Jones. The same negative reaction was heard when another female contestant rearranged a song that Peter Cetera wrote for Chicago.

This dilemma hits even the most successful of musicians. When, for example, Elton John covered the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds the critics found it to be neither more exciting than the original, nor enough of a change from the original to be interesting.

Cover songs are usually best when they are clearly meant as respectful tributes to the original artist - singer and/or songwriter. The Beatles cover version of Words of Love was obviously a tribute to their idol Buddy Holly. You can still hear the nervousness in their voices on Beatles VI and they never attempted to out-do a song by the late, great, Holly & the Crickets. Another example is found on The Very Best of Sheryl Crow. She shows her respect for Cat Stevens by including not just one but two cover versions of The First Cut is the Deepest. Both covers are humble, quiet, restrained in order to telegraph the message that she's not trying to out-meow The Cat. (Yet Crow is hardly known for her modesty.)

Which is a roundabout way of getting to the first way of describing my favorite music. The first test of great music, of a great song, is to ask whether anyone else could perform the song any better? With the best songs, the best performances, the answer is always no.

Think of Gordon Lightfoot singing If You Could Read My Mind. I've seen him sing this live twice and I absolutely cannot imagine anyone doing a better job. Take a second and listen to the song in your head and try to imagine another voice in his place. It isn't possible.

The same is true with Sinatra singing It Was A Very Good Year, Neil Diamond singing Solitary Man...

Joni Mitchell... No one is ever going to record a song by Joni that sounds better than Joni's original. Sarah McLachlan has recorded tribute versions of Blue and River, but her versions are, yes, respectful. Not better than the originals. The reverse would likely also be true. Take Sarah's Good Enough, Plenty or Do What You Have to Do. All of these songs were inspired by Joni's work but it's very doubtful that Joni in her prime would have recorded superior versions.

The true recording artist, at the top of his or her craft, cannot be surpassed. The same principle applies to albums. There's a young female artist who has released a cover CD version of The Who Sell Out album. It's probably interesting, but not very good.

Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys, Rubber Soul and Revolver by the Beatles, The Rising by the Boss, What's Going On by Marvin Gaye, Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan, Blue by Joni Mitchell... Hopefully, no one is ever going to release a cover version of these classics. If they do, they likely won't be worth listening to. Magic doesn't happen a second time.

Now we get to the second rule, or test. (To be continued... The first in a series.)