Freddie did a cover of Great Pretender, but he didn't it for a Queen album because they always did ''original music'', and the four boys was very proud of this, as they said in a lot of interviews, but the Wedding March... Queen actually did a cover in his albums!!!
Maybe this is a nonsense post after all :)
Sebastian wrote: Not necessarily ... DAR hadn't been officially released before 1973, so Queen's version doesn't count as a cover. Same for Polar Bear.
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Well, you raise an interesting problem here. Take, for instance, the song "This Wheel's On Fire".
It was written in 1967 by Bob Dylan, and recorded with The Band. This recording was released in 1975 on "The Basement Tapes".
In 1968, Julie Driscoll with Brian Auger and The Trinity recorded a version which was released that same year (and became a minor hit in Britain).
In december 1968 The Band recorded a version without Bob Dylan, which was released in 1969.
Which version is "the original"? Julie Driscoll & Co's version was released to the public first, and a version by The Band was released before the original version with Dylan was released. However, I would still say that the version by Dylan and The Band is the original, as it was *recorded* before any other version.
Similarly, the Smile-version of DAR was recorded before the Queen version. Queen based its version on the already existing song. Therefore, it's a cover.
Release has nothing to do with it, IMHO, as "cover" is the antonym of "original". Therefore, if a song was not written by the group performing it, it's a cover.
Of course, the glaring error here is that DOR isn't a cover - that it was recorded by a previous incarnation of the band (for all intents and pursoses) and one of it's writers was in the band. In the same way, Stone Cold Crazy was a Weckage song, reworked by Queen, but there are no claims that's a cover.
Also worth considering is whether a recording is considered a "cover" if the writer (or one of the writers) is recording it with a different band (or solo).
The way I see it, after the original (or first) release is issued and another band began their recording *after* its release, it's a cover. If the song was given to two artists by the writer (who always has first selection rights as to who records and releases the song first), with one coming out before the other, but the second band not having heard the "first" recording, the second recording was not influenced by the first, it's not really a cover (in my opinion).
An example of this would be The Beatles recording of "How Do You Do It." George Martin found the song, had The Beatles record it, but since band didn't want such a sugary song as their first release, they didn't issue it. Martin then gave it to Gerry & The Pacemakers, who released the "original" version. Neither The Beatles' recording, nor G&TP's, was a cover of the other. Any recording made after G&TP's release IS a cover. The Beatles recording was later released on Anthology 1.
Now, if the writer (or possibly a member of the original band) records a second version of his/her song either solo or with another band, then it's not a cover. Or, if the writer never recorded or released their version until *after* the first release of the song by someone else, it's still not a cover (in my opinion, because it's the writer's song, first and foremost).
Examples:
1984 recorded (but never released) "Step On Me" (May/Staffell).
Smile recorded (and released it much later) their version, but since May and Staffell are in Smile as well as being the writers, it wouldn't have been a cover if they'd all be released at the time of recording.
Same thing with "Doing All Right." Smile recorded their version, it went unreleased until the '80s, but Queen (obviously with Brian May) recorded and released their version. This recording, to me, is neither the original recording, nor is it a cover. It's simply "Queen's version." Same with "Polar Bear."
A none Queen-related example is "Because The Night," by Bruce Springsteen And Patti Smith. Basically, it was a Springsteen song meant for Darkness On The Edge Of Town, he recorded a version, but gave the song to Smith, who tinkered with it and released her own. The Springsteen version eventually released on The Promise is not a cover.
So, for me, in the end, the writer or co-writer of a song is never covering *their* song, even if it's released after.
As to something like Roger Taylor releasing his live recording of "I Want To Break Free," which he didn't write but was a member of the band who first recorded it, for simplicity I tend to lump that into the "not a cover, but their related version" category.
I think this is one of those cases where a further word is needed.
"Coverversion" doesn't really cover all possibilities.
In case of "Queen" recording a former "Smile" song it's not a cover but a re-recording. See the two re-takes of "Keep yourself alive" (the De Lane Lea version).
Also I see a cover as a close copy with a same arrangement of a song made famous by some artist.
There are cases like Joe Cocker's "With a little help from my friend" which is usually described as a cover song of the Beatles, but somehow he turned it into something completely different. So cover doesn't really fit in this case.
When Maria Carey does "Without you" she clearly covers the version of Nilsson from the early 70s. But even he took this song from a band called Badfinger, who had no success with that song and basically played it in a very uneffective arrangement. It would have never been a hit until Nillson did some changes here and there. So it's not really fitting to say he covered their song.
That's a load of rubbish. You may interpret a song in a different way but you still cover it. That's why it's called a cover version.
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Your insult only shows that you are not a musician and have no idea how music is coming to live.