Hi all, and welcome to another Music Monday, an idea that originated at The Tattooed Book Geek – ‘just a nobody with a blog’ (wordpress.com).
One of the great joys of cover songs is then going and discovering the original. For example, I found this brand new sparkly cover of Metal Heart by Dave Gahan and Soulsavers
And in a day or so realised it was a cover, and then found the Cat Power original
And both are flippin’ fantastic.
The studio versions of the Cat Power original have a little less power for my money, which is why I picked this live version. Comparing these two, there’s not many differences, just the Soulsavers go with a thicker sound to complement Dave Gahan’s deeper, richer voice. Picking a favourite between them would really be picking a favourite voice, and I’d refuse to do that here. In any case, the magic of these songs for me lies predominantly in the phrasing. Take my very favourite verse:
Sew your fortunes on a string,
Blue smoke will take a very violent flight
And you will be changed and everything
And you will be in a very sad, sad zoo
The pause and sudden rush on the second line creates a sense of magic, a sense of the profound that the next line – again with a pause – builds on. It’s a judgment, it’s beautiful, it’s addictive.
A big shout out to the drumming in both, which plays a big if subtle part in creating the driving build up of pressure.
Anyway, that’s my music monday, let me know what you think.
Peat Long's Blog 
I still prefer the Dave Gahan & Soulsavers version, but that’s also because once I get into a song, any other versions (whether a cover or the original that I didn’t know before) pale in comparison…
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I did at first, then listened to the Cat Power one about thirty times and know I like them just as much
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