What are some of your favorite covers and arrangements of songs?
As a classically trained singer, I am no stranger to singing other people’s compositions. I enjoy researching the history and studying the performance of a musical work. Coming up with your own interpretation or arrangement of an original piece can be just as exhilarating as writing your own song.
Thanks to Sarah Brightman and other singers, I’ve enjoyed discovering beautiful songs and then going on a hunt for the originals. When discovering original compositions and there cover versions by other artist, you can discover some fun surprises. Sometimes, polar opposites!
For example,
Voyage, Voyage, originally by Desireless in 1986, and then you have Gregorian’s cover in 2001.
“On the top of the old volcanos
Slipping of the wings under the carpets of the wind
Travel travel, eternally
Clouds in the marsh
The wind of Spain in rain of Equator
Travel travel, flight in the heights
Above the capitals
Fatal ideas
Look at the ocean
Travel travel
Further that night and the day
Travel
In an unbelievable space of the love
Travel travel
On holly water of an Indian river
Travel
And do never return
On Ganges or the Amazonas
At the whites, at the sikhs, at the yellows
Travel travel, in all the kingdom
On the dunes of the Sahara
Fiji islands in Fujihama
Travel travel, you’re not bounded
With above of the barbeles
Hearts bombard
Look at the ocean
travel , travel …”
totally different feel, right!?
I believe talent goes farther than writing or performing music. It also takes talent to arrange and produce music. As the above example demonstrates, one song can be arranged and produced in so many different ways, creating different feelings and sounds from one song. It can make or break a song too. Sometimes for a song’s true worth to emerge OR to have a different voice emerge from the wood work, a little tweaking or different stylistic arrangement needs to happen. What are some of your favorite originals and covers, and why?
Peace,
