There's an art to the cover song, and we've assembled a fine gallery of them.
Taking someone else's work and making it your own is a challenge. In the 20th century, jazz, blues and early pop music were particularly dependent on standards and reinventing songs.
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There's any number of reasons artists take on covers. Perhaps it's to pay tribute to a legend. Maybe its to expose fans to an influence on theirs. Sometimes it just comes from the love of nuance of songwriting. In the early days of pop music, it wasn't uncommon for songs to be covered over and over, and for huge hits to be the second or third iteration of a previously lesser-known song.
For example, "Twist and Shout" was originally performed as "Shake It Up, Baby" by the Top Notes -- but went on to enter pop music history with renditions by the Isley Brothers and the Beatles.
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Some beloved musicians, such as Harry Nilsson, are more known for their oeuvre of covers than their original songs. Whether the goal is to stay true to the original or do something completely different with a song, we love the ways people express themselves through the music of others.
Check out our Spotify playlist of our favorite covers. Then let us know in the comments: What cover songs do you like best?
Here's how you can share your favorite cover song with us:
- Tell us in the comments. Make sure to include the name of the artist and the song so we can be certain to find it.
- Tweet us your song choice @mashableHQ and use the hashtag #MusicMonday. If you send us a Spotify link, we'll give it a listen and add some of our favorites
- To grab a Spotify link, control-click on any song in Spotify and "Copy HTTP link."
- If you're not a Spotify user, you can still send us a link to wherever the track is hosted, and we'll do our best to listen.
This story originally published on Mashable here.