Audio Files: A Tale Of Four Songs

I ain't sayin', but I'm just sayin'.

After watching The Fighter, my ear and interest piqued to this familiar sound. I'm sure you've heard it before. Living in this age of mash-ups, dubstep and the era of more mixtapes and minimal albums -- it's hard to keep tabs on what should be considered an original work. 

The song above is a very well produced number by The Heavy. A band I hadn't heard of and after hearing several songs of theirs -- i get a very funk/rock Dave Matthews feel from them. However, this isn't about the soft and accessible nature of the band, but a question of when homage crosses a line. Now its quite obvious this band (and I'm sure many others) got the rights to use the trademark D-F-G chord you hear in the song below.

Wilson Pickett would later do (a more famous) cover* of the song originally made by Dyke and the Blazers, "Let A Woman Be A Woman, And Let A Man Be A Man." Listening to The Heavy song again, I listen the lyrics and that too sounds awfully familiar.

Though I am partial to Gene Chandler's version, James Brown's "There Was A Time" is quite well known. At this point, the good I can find in the The Heavy's song is more-or-less centered around how well they can take the bits-and-pieces of their musical influences and thread it all together into a pretty energetic piece. But is it original?

As I said, the Heavy's song is enjoyable. I've listened to it over and over. Picking apart the goods and bads. There is a bit of grittiness lingering around the drums and bass guitar ... which is a good thing. There is something about this song that does sounds a bit over produced and flat.

Before typing this I gave the Heavy's song one last listen. The song is masterfully made for people who like clear treble tones (skilled sound engineering). The band is talented, but this song...there is something about a song that has more from something else than from the people performing it. Even the very hook -- that's so popular in movies and Superbowl commercials, is borrowed from Kool Moe Dee.

No idea is original [/cliche]. These notes we've been listening to have spanned hundreds of years. Refinements have occurred. But I think I've deduced why my ears don't take kindly to artists like Girl Talk. I know, tangent right? We were talking about The Heavy's weren't we? Excuse me while I blanket generalize, but current artist like the aforementioned are [grits teeth] completely original in their own right, but I think I'll pass. 

It's not that I don't like covers (scroll down to the end of this post), but a song has to have something else. Something more than a person merely acknowledging, "Yeah, I heard that too!" However, I reserve the right to change my mind at all times. Heck, the next Audio Files I post may be completely contradictory to what you're reading right now!

Thanks for reading. [What's your take by the way?]

*But then again there is that Jimmy Lynch cut as well.