Old is gold.
The best things in life could be free, but more pertinently, are the first. It seems that when you hear something and you like it, then it is unlikely that you will like another rendition of it, especially if there is a great variance or departure from the original item. This seems to be corroborated by the Courageous + Contentious Cover Songs” infographic.
There are a plethora of songs on the right-hand side of the infograph (those songs that remain faithful to the original) and a dearth of songs on the left (those that depart greatly from the original). In other words, the songs on the right are the ones that would most likely be pleasing to the ears. Unfortunately, there seems to be relatively few songs at the top of the infograph (those that are pleasing to the ears) and far more songs at the bottom of the graph (those that are grating to the ears).
In short, the songs in the bottom left area would be most repugnant. In this regard, we have never heard Madonna’s version of “American Pie” by Don Maclean and, after seeing this graph, we probably never will.
It does seem, though, that there ought to be many more songs shown on this graphic, but can think of few specifics. In general though, Christmas songs always seem to be good, no matter who sings them (although we have a preference for Boney M). In addition, we do like the rendition of “Suspicious Minds” by Fine Young Cannibals to be greater than the original by Elvis Presley.
Likes: The graph does seem to be true; we do enjoy many of the songs in the upper right.
Dislikes: We do not mind Devo’s song (in the lower left) but will definitely avoid Madonna’s song.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In music, that may or not ring true depending on who decides to cover your song. Some are great for their creative departure from the original, while others are great because they stay true. But there are others which should have never been attempted in the first place. See where you would place these covers on the chart created with Sonos below.
