Big Black’s cover of Kraftwerk’s The Model
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One of the things I love about covers is that in many ways the medium is the message. Borges has a story called “pierre menard author of the quixote” where a french author rewrites a section of Don Quixote word for word, but with richer meaning because of his context. It works for songs too.
“Hurt” is a great song, but having an aged Johnny Cash sing it transmutes it into something deeper:
or consider how the meaning of “Time after Time” changes when it’s sung by the ethereal Eva Cassidy dying of cancer at in her early 30s:
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I came here only to recommend the best cover Ive ever heard,'Hurt" by the immortal JC,but you beat me to it.
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Kraftwerk is one of those bands that influenced so many genres that don’t often get their recognition.
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The singers phrasing alters meanings(emotionally) as well. Such as in the examples you’ve posted.
Cash’s rendition of hurt imbues the lifetime of “The Man in Black”s lows. Fortunately there were many highs as well.
Another favorite of mine.
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Johnny Cash rendition of Hurt is one of my all time favorites… they put out a tribute album of a bunch of artist singing his songs I believe… I’ll have to find it…
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Yes I saw this in the past.
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Found it:
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Borges was a wag. He was also obsessed with copies. In Tlon, Ukbar and Orbis Tertius He has a copier that first degrades, then starts to improve on the original.
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I was distinguishing between covers done in (1) a current or later pop style , versus (2) created in a pop style characteristic of an earlier era. Pat Boone took heavy metal – with its complete reliance on electric instruments and distortion – and moved move it back to the pop vocals/jazz era. “In a Metal Mood” received a sharply divided reaction on its release, and a good portion of Pat Boone’s historical Christian audience was very negative. Later, retro styling became a big and popular genre, with Postmodern Jukebox touring all the time.
Johnny Cash’s covers of various later artists – to include NIN’s Hurt, Sting’s I Hung My Head, etc. follows the retro model more than the contemporary model too.
Before retro covers, most covers were done to update [cash in] an earlier hit with a new audience. They relied on familiarity and a corporate push. Common contemporary-style covers included The Carpenter’s Ticket to Ride, Van Halen’s You Really Got Me, Run DMC’s Walk This Way, Tom Jones Kiss, Rod Stewart’s Downtown Train, and Avenged Sevenfold’s Walk cited above. The originals were all big hits, except for Tom Waits original Downtown Train.
IMO, this changed as the pop industry became saturated with too many hits. Before this, there were Muzak (elevator music) versions, but not done with any artistry. Retro now helps to spread and maintain a standard catalog.
I’m personally most interested in genre benders such as Iron Man (above), that force one to hear the actual music/lyrics differently. No matter where it starts or ends. Sex Pistols My Way. The Clash I Fought the Law. Or, stuff that goes ironic and sideways as a man starts singing a chirpy early Madonna dance song:
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Understood. I was too retro on retro.
If you like Genre benders, look at covers of Route 66. There is a very nice Zydeco cover, and at least one psychedelic rock cover.
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Another favorite cover of mine!
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This was on my release radar today! Fun!
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Came across this again on my favorites list…fun!
https://open.qobuz.com/track/62926023
and a youtube version for those not on Qobuz
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I’d never heard this!
Man, that lady could sing… 
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Yes she could, there’s always her most well-known cover of Dolly Payton’s “I Will Always Love You”
Below is Dolly’s singing it live, along with an explanation of how and why she wrote the song in 1967.
And Whitney’s famous rendition, that Dolly liked - and not just for the royalties.
Here’s Dolly talking about Whitney sing it-
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Genre benders - I appreciate that. Several months ago, this was making the rounds. Astonishing performance of a kid with a ukelele.
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And while looking and genre bending covers, of Teen Spirit
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