Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
It’s said that imitation is the best form of flattery. If that’s true, then in the music world, there’s no better way to show that you love a song than recording your own version of it.
Some cover songs remain extremely faithful to the original version of the song, while others take the song in a new direction by putting the cover artist’s own spin on it. Some of the best covers are so successful at capturing the true spirit of a song that they become even more well known than the original version.
Find out what Devan and Jeff think it takes to make a great cover song.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
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Devan: So, what’s your favorite cover song of all time?
Jeff: There are too many to list.
Devan: So you do like when artists cover other people’s music, or would you rather them just play their own originals?
Jeff: I don’t know, sometimes cover songs can be better than the original. But a lot of times I think they’re real cheesy.
Devan: Sometimes they rework it in such a way that…especially if it’s by an unknown artist, when you hear their version you think that it’s original. For example, like Jimi Hendrix’ “Hey Joe,” I never knew that was a cover until recently.
Jeff: Yeah, there’s that. He did “Along the Watchtower,” too, that Bob Dylan song.
Devan: Yeah, most people think that’s a Jimi Hendrix song, not a Bob Dylan song.
Jeff: Yeah, I know, I did for a long time.
Devan: But when you can make it your own, I think that’s when it makes for a good cover song, when you put your own spin on it, add yourself into it, and make it your own, but still manage to stay true to the spirit of the original song.
Jeff: Yeah, I like that. Sometimes people go pretty far though.
Grammar Point
Go Super to learn "Modal Verbs" from this lesson
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Discussion
Jeff thinks there are so many good cover songs out there, it’s hard to pick just one as his favorite. At the same time, he thinks some covers can be a little cheesy.
For Devan, the best cover songs are those that rework the original and really turn it into a new song. Some cover songs even become more popular than the original recording of the song. Devan thinks that is just fine, but Jeff thinks that sometimes cover artists go too far in their interpretation of a song. He thinks it’s important to respect the original version of a song while putting one’s own spin on it.
What is your favorite cover? Do you like it when artists make covers that are really different from the original version of a song?
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