Cover Songs: How To Approach Different Styles

Jon Nolan
Apr 24, 2023
3 min read

Cover songs are considered a reinterpretation of an existing song; meaning, in addition to a musician or artists book of songs, a band or singer would decide to create a new arrangement and style of a previously recorded song.

How would one go about their own style of arrangement? What are the different approaches to create ones own cover song? A simple copy and paste cover by the artist copying musical arrangements, sounds, and instrumentation is usually the most common approach; however, the musician may not decide to go that route; they would create something entirely new but also decide to still keep the same lyrics of the same song. Sometimes covers are even packaged as instrumental versions used by artists in other genres.

I'm going to show a couple of examples of cover songs that either give the listener a brand new arrangement of an existing song, or a simple copy and paste version.

1. "I'm A Believer" - The Monkees and Smash Mouth

The first cover song example is the The Monkees hit from 1967. "I'm A Believer" was originally written by Neil Diamond in 1966, but the song became a hit a year later when The Monkees recorded the song and became one of the best selling singles of 1967.

Fast forward 34 years later to 2001, the hit band Smash Mouth records a version of the song for the first Shrek movie. The band records a similar arrangement, but the heavy guitar, drums, and bass gives the song a brand new modern sound.

2. "Free Fallin'" - Tom Petty and John Mayer

The Tom Petty version is one of those songs everyone tries to sing as loud as they can when the chorus comes around; talk about arguably the catchiest chorus ever!

The Tom Petty version expresses fantastic songwriting from catchy melodies and hooks to a convincing storyline in the verses while engaging the listener with the arrangement and instrumentation. The songs popularity came back when John Mayer created his own acoustic version and debut it at a concert in Los Angeles in 2007 with two other guitar players.

Both versions have their strengths and many people enjoy listening to both arrangements. This is one of those examples that in case you don't have a full band yet to perform, a musician can easily take an existing song and twist it to make an acoustic version.

3. "Against All Odds" - Phil Collins and John Tesh

Phil Collins' power ballad from 1984 was covered by the likes of Mariah Carey, 2004 X Factor winner Steve Brookstein and probably many others, but this instrumental version by Musician and former host of Entertainment Tonight, John Tesh is a great example that you don't necessarily need vocals for every cover. The main melody is played on Alto Saxophone by Everett Harp.

4. "Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson and Chris Cornell

I saved the ultimate cover song example for last since this one will need an open ear. No one could ever touch Michael Jackson's songwriting ability and artistry. It really takes a brave musician to try to cover one of his songs and to also succeed with popularity. Once again, Mariah Carey hit a home run years ago with a cover of the Jackson 5 hit "I'll Be There," but imagine a heavy rock band like Metallica doing a cover of "Thriller" or Pink Floyd recording a version of "Earth Song." Rock musician Chris Cornell takes a leap of faith and creates a daring cover of the 1982 pop hit.

Chris Cornells arrangement is completely removed from the Michael Jackson version. It's so removed that you wonder if you're listening to the same song. Cornell takes the lyrics of the original Michael Jackson version and spins it to make a completely new song.