名作記

A while back, I made a series of posts on Twitter describing ways I would cover some songs. Let me list them here:

• Bruce Robison's "Wrapped" in the style of U2's "Stories for Boys"
• Duran Duran's "Planet Earth" straight-forward with lyrics in Japanese
• Janet Jackson's "Miss You Much" in the style of Alice in Chains
• Linda Ronstadt's "Hurts So Bad" in the style of Garbage.
• Marilyn Manson's "Tourniquet" in the style of Enya. (Actually, I ended up covering Neutral Milk Hotel's "The Fool" as an a capella piece.)
• Roberta Flack's "Closer I Get to You" in the style of Explosions in the Sky and mono.
• The System's "Don't Disturb This Groove"in the style of Sam Amidon and Nico Muhly

As much as I'd like to think these interpretations are beginnings of a cover album, I don't get much of a thematic thread from them. The source material is all over the place, and their planned interpretations are incongruous. It wouldn't feel like an album to me.

Now there's another wrinkle.

I finally got around to cataloging my 7-inch singles, and I ran across a number of titles I haven't listened to in years. A significant number of these singles date from 1980, when my siblings and I engaged in a collection war. I won because my mom spoiled me.

Thing is, these songs which were hits in the day are pretty obscure now, and they would actually make interesting source material for a covers album. I mean, really -- do any of these titles really ring a bell?

• "A Lovers Holiday" by Change
• "Let Me Talk" by Earth, Wind and Fire
• "Never Knew Love Like This Before" by Stephanie Mills
• "Stomp!" by the Brothers Johnson
• "Special Lady" by Ray, Goodman and Brown
• "Twilight" by Electric Light Orchestra (which is from 1981)

A lot of these songs marked the end of the disco era and coincide with the emergence of post-punk, the music that really informs my identity. And yet, I like these songs too. Some of them anyway.

And the time factor makes a far better thread than just a bunch of random -- if not somewhat interesting -- interpretations.

So on what should I work? A cover album of songs from ca. 1980? Or a cover album of songs with unlikely interpretive pairings?

Dude, I would pay money to hear your cover of "Miss You Much".