Writing about Cover Songs
PROMPT:
Pick a song you like, one that is a cover or a remix of an original song; make an argument about how, rhetorically, the cover/remix version works differently from the original, and to what effect.
ELABORATION:
Songs can mean really different things depending on who sings them, when they’re sung, how the lyrics and/or melodies are changed from one musician to another, who’s listening to the song, when that audience is listening, and whole bunch of other rhetorical factors.
Take, for example, my sample lecture on the difference between the old, traditional Jewish spiritual as sung by Don Mclean (rock and roll artist of the 70s), versus the same song redone by Boney M (a Caribbean band of the same decade). The song means different things (i.e., works differently) in each case, and that’s because many of the rhetorical factors that I’ve listed above have changed.
Your job is to do something like that, in writing. Once you’ve chosen your song, look closely at both the original and the cover/remix version. In noting details of what is similar and what has changed (both in the song and its rhetoric), make an argument for how the song works in a rhetorically different ways in each version. Analyze the rhetoric of each version of the song, and use that analysis to help you explain how the song works differently in each setting. Your argument in this paper should be one about how the song has changed (and why) as a result of specific rhetorical factors you discuss. The more knowledgeable you can come off about the rhetorical stuff you’ve learned in this unit, the better your paper will be. Your job is NOT to say which version is “better.”
LOGISTICS:
Don’t include a title page. Provide a header on the first page that includes your name and “Major Assignment #1.” Also include a title, preferably one that creatively suggests your argument regarding your chosen song and its cover. Double-space. Use Times New Roman, 12-point font. Number your pages. Make sure the paper (excluding the header and the title) is at least 1,200 words.
