Confession: I’m a fan of Glee.
Ok, so maybe that isn’t much of a confession to those that know me.
One thing that Glee does – and does well in my opinion – is cover songs. I am not overly for or against people covering songs. I will even admit that sometimes I like the cover of a song better than the original. One example is “Creep” by Brandi Carlile. It rules. And is better than the original. Trust me. Other examples are the gazillion covers of “Hallelujah”.
Other covers are just awful or there are some songs that should just be left to the original artist and not remixed, resampled, or redone (I’m looking at you Black Eyed Peas for “I’ve Had the Time of My Life”).
In my opinion, if you’re going to cover a song, especially a hit, you need to bring something different to it, mix it up, make it your own. Anyone can re-do the original exactly, in fact it happens all of the time at bars across the country under the name “karaoke”. However, there is also a fine line between making a cover your own and totally ruining a song – respect must be paid (again, Black Eyed Peas, take note).
While Glee has tried to do original songs, their staples are covers of a wide vareity of songs. I’ve had the discussion/debate with folks about which versions are better or which covers they should or could have done differently. I will also be honest, for some of the songs, I hadn’t heard the original prior to hearing it on Glee (I would say which songs, but I’m sure it would cause me to be judged). What can I say, I don’t listen to the radio often so my exposure to new music is somewhat limited.
One of these songs is “Sing”. I don’t think I’ve seen the episode it was in since I have band rehearsal on Tuesdays this spring, but heard it at the concert in June, on Spotify, and in the “Glee 3D Movie Extravaganza Live Experience Concert Thing Movie!” (did they really need as many adjectives in the title as they had?)
I honestly thought this was a song from the episode where they did original songs, I had no clue it was a song by My Chemical Romance. I like the Glee version better – but am wondering what others think. I also like the lyrics from the chorus of this song. But that’s a subject for another post on another day. 🙂
So here’s your chance to weigh in on who rocked it better:
Enjoy.
Perhaps I am partial to the Glee version because I heard it first but I feel like the vocal dynamics of the Glee version with the addition of a choral version of the song gives it more depth, they also sing it more theatrically, they give it more feeling.