Write Their Own Songs

“All of us start out as members of a cover band, but the best of us learn to write their own songs”

Robert Meganck, Lesson from Life and Rock & Roll: A Swan Song

Virtually all artists begin covering or imitating the work of others. For clarity, a band that play a song previously recorded by someone else is covering that song, and a band that only plays previously recorded song is Cover Band. This should not be confused with a Tribute Band, whose setlist are all by a single performer or band and frequently assumes the persona of that performer/band.

Bob Dylan’s first album only contained two original songs the remainder were covers of traditional songs. The Beatles have covered songs by Chuck Berry, Carol King and Gerry Goffin among others. Before they were The Grateful Dead, they were Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions. If you look into the history of your favorite musicians, I’m sure you’ll find that they learned their craft by imitating previously recorded songs. Pablo Picasso’s early work was very representational, and Jackson Pollock’s early painting were influenced by Thomas Hart Benton. These are among the most influential practitioners of their art. If the Beatles early songs contained lyrics like, “Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye / Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess / Boy, you been a naughty girl you let your knickers down” instead of “I wanna hold your hand, yeh, yeh, yeh / I wanna hold your hand, yeh, yeh, yeh / I wanna hold your hand, yeh, yeh, yeh” would they have been able to into the music marketplace the way they did. The point I’m trying to make is that great artist start off imitating the work of others, then move on to interpreting the work of others, then those interpretations become their list of influences, before they become the artist that are imitated by others -- and the cycle continues.

I also do not want to disparage the work of cover and tribute bands. I love both. Some of my favorite shows have been those where the music was provided by a Cover Band. They played the songs I love, and live music is always the best way to experience music. With live shows you become more than to a passive listener, you are part of the show. I’ve also seen (and love) tribute bands. They are extremely talented musicians, spending time to capture the nuances of a single performer/band, often for performer/band that are no more. So it goes. They keep the music alive.