[78-L] covers

DAVID BURNHAM burnhamd at rogers.com
Sat Aug 1 13:19:47 PDT 2009


Michael Biel wrote:

It's not really a "cover" in the proper sense of the word as it was
originally defined and still used at the time of that recording. 
Although the word has been bastardized in recent years, it really only
refers to alternate versions released at the time of the original hit
version(s).  Something like this done 12 to 15 years after the song was
a hit is really only another version, not a cover.  By your definition,
anytime another conductor and orchestra records Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony it is a cover.  

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Was it you or someone else who was taking us to task a few months ago for using the term "cover" at all?  Insisting that it was a racist term since it referred to white versions of black hits. 

I've asked several collectors and musicians since that discussion about the term and none of them had ever heard of it in that context.

But when it comes to the sensitivity of some folks, I was jumped on several months ago for referring to a common Canadian road hazard as "Black ice".  This person insisted that it's only called that because it's dangerous and that it's a racist term.  She said it should be called "clear ice".  If anyone has ever hit "black ice", they know how appropriate the term is.  I gained a point in the argument though by offering that "White-outs" aren't much fun either.

db



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