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PMP#129: Wherefore the Cover Song?

July 27, 2022 by Mark Leave a Comment

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Is re-playing or re-recording a song written and performed by someone else an act of love or predation? Mark is joined by Too Much Joy’s Tim Quirk, the Gig Gab Podcast’s Dave Hamilton, and the author of A Philosophy of Cover Songs Prof. P.D. Magnus to talk about different types of and purposes for covers, look a little at the history, share favorites, and more.

A few of the many cover songs we mention include:

  • Too Much Joy’s “That’s a Lie” and “Seasons in the Sun“
  • Otis Redding’s “Respect” (not a cover; this is the lesser known original adapted by Aretha Franklin)
  • The Clash’s “Police and Thieves” (the original is by Junior Murvin)
  • R.E.M.’s “Superman” (much more famous that the original by “The Clique“) 
  • Bitter Bill (Dave’s band) “Minnie the Moocher“
  • Poison’s “Just What I Needed“
  • Willie Nelson’s “American Tune” (original is by Paul Simon)
  • Tom Jones’ “Kiss“
  • Sid Vicious’ “My Way“

This playlist includes most of the songs mentioned in P.D.’s book.

To prep for this, in addition to reading P.D.’s book (which is free), we looked at various lists of best and worst cover songs of all time: from timeout.com, bestlifeonline.com, Rolling Stone, Radio X. Also check out this episode of the Ghost Notes Podcast.

Follow us @news4wombats (for P.D.), @tbquirk, @DaveHamilton, and @MarkLinsenmayer.

Get bonus talking for this and nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop, or you can sign up directly via Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark’s podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel.

This podcast is part of the Partially Examined Life podcast network and is curated by openculture.com.

Sponsors: Find a top-rated doctor by visiting ZocDoc.com/PMP and downloading the free ZocDoc app. Check your rate for a loan at upstart.com/PRETTY.

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: music podcast, pop culture podcast

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Pretty Much Pop brings together philosophers, artists, comedians, and other smart folks to talk about media and how we consume it: TV, film, music, novels, games, comics, comedy, theater, podcasts, and more. Most of what (other) people like is pretty weird when you think about it, so thinking about it is what we do.

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