I was watchin it...thats why I'm down here on the puter..never seen so many good singers screw up one mans music so much...If you can't sing them like Johnny then don't try and make them something else!!!
Although I'm not watching the show, I totally feel the same way about the "tributes" to some great singers. I mean, yeah, it's nice that other people want to play their songs, but don't try and change it or anything like that. I may sound like an *** for sayig it, but I'd see that as more of an insult than a tribute.
I understand what you guy`s are saying BUT, it was a tribute show. That show was all about respect for THE MAN! There is nobody out there who could have sung those songs like Johnny so why try to sing them like Johnny? The thing that got me about the show was the love and hurt you could feel by just watching the family and friends tell thier stories....made a lump in my throat a couple times, if that makes me a *****....so be it! Want some....bring it on!
YEAH I ADMIRE THE FACT THAT HE KEPT RECORDING AFTER ALL THE "EXPERTS" TOLD HIM THERE WAS NO AUDIENCE for his music..... we did a cover of "If I were a carpenter" -[with Heavy Metal rework] [when we played music in a previous life]......
There are only TWO ways to do a cover tune... ...either you try to reproduce it as close to the original as possible, ...or you take the song and make it your own! Too Much Joy rocked up "Seasons In The Sun", Nazareth juiced out "Love Hurts", Van Halen smoked "You Really Got Me" and "Pretty Woman", Country musicians have long performed each other's songs live and on their albums...back before the dawn of Yuppie Country, it wasn't uncommon for several artists to sing the same songs...not so much as a tribute to each other...but more like a "tip o'the hat", so to speak. NOWADAYS, young acts just ruin old tunes because they don't have the talent to write their own stuff...they subscribe to the Templeman/Roth theory that "If you start with a cover song, then you're halfway home because people already know it"! Roth loved covers, but Eddie hated doing them on the albums. (Live gigs are different...you do a cover to add a spontaneous twist to your show once you've established yourself as an original artist....or you fade away in Cover Band Hell playing beer joints forever!) Bar bands who make their living by playing requests HAVE to perform them as close to the originals as possible...but established acts can enjoy a little more "artistic license" with a cover tune since people don't expect them to be just a free jukebox belting out their favorite format music all night as the drinks flow!! I dig cover tunes and tribute songs...but I like to hear a fresh spin on them to make them interesting, while still honoring the artist who made the song famous. Van Halen's early live stints where they tossed in songs like "Last Child" by Aerosmith or "Tush" by ZZ Top were cool because they gave the audience a little 'treat' to snack on as the band warmed up for UFO or some other act! Eddie still put his stamp on the songs...and it helped to 'sell' the band early on...eventually landing them a record deal. (Unfortunately, Dave still wanted to do covers after the band was signed...but they managed to do them in their own way...take "You're No Good" for example...NOTHING like the Linda Rhondstat version!!!) I don't think Johnny Cash would be offended by hearing bands do his material in their own style...after all...he did a wicked-cool set of covers himself!!
I watched it, it was a sweet tribute. I got a whole lot of new respect fpr Sheryl Crow, she's amazingly talented and beautiful. Steve Earle's rendition of Folsom Prison Blues was refreshing in that it wasn't a Cash clone as most renditions are. Willie Nelson should really give up soloing every chance he gets on his beat up acoustic. He should keep singing though.
I`m with ya Nads, every time I see Willie do ANY song, the guitar solo sounds exactly the same! I thought MOST everybody did a good job on there tribute songs AND keep in mind, Johnny didnt write alot of those songs so the writers themselves were playing them. Alot of the other songs he never cut but they had some connection to Johnny. I think thats the first time I`ve seen Kid Rock do anything that he didnt feel the need to get loud on. I thought if anyone was trying to sound like Johnny it was Hank Jr., I thought he did a good job.
"NOWADAYS, young acts just ruin old tunes because they don't have the talent to write their own stuff...they subscribe to the Templeman/Roth theory that "If you start with a cover song, then you're halfway home because people already know it"!" I say horse **** to that. I play in a band.....more specifically a Rockabilly band.(huuu...oh my god gasp!) And we do many covers like all rockabilly bands and roots bands do. And why cover a song exactly the same? I could play the original and our cover for you, and some of the songs are so vastly different that little more than the lyrics are all that you have to go on. And why try and sing like Johnny Cash??? Sing it like you would. I have heard a really good Johnny tribute album and Am Impressed by the diverse ways that musicians approched his music. If your gonna go so far as to say that about music......Can you apply that to say.......um......Hot Rods and Customs? I think it was Minor Threat that sayed "it's all been done before" Mike
[ QUOTE ] ..never seen so many good singers screw up one mans music so much...If you can't sing them like Johnny then don't try and make them something else!!! [/ QUOTE ] Amen. I taped it and started watching late last night. I find myself fast forwarding to the singers that I want to hear, Willie and Kris so far. I haven't gotten too far into it. Cash Lives!
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