What is better... Reviving the song or creating original songs?

Question

i don't put this personally in an artist itself... but in a way that media would prefer to decide..

Answer 1

Definitley creating original songs is better. It shows that you've got a real talent.

Answer 2

Reviving a GREAT song generally assures you of a hit. Killing Me Softly certainly put Lauryn Hill on the map.

Yu can't Hurry Love was a break out for Phil Collins when he went solo.

Boogie Woogie Bugel Boy certainly helped out the Pointer Sisters!

I have a few songs stuffed away that I'm going to break the right artist with, unless someone beats me to it, so I won't say what, but no one has done it and it was an ALL YEAR hit the first time around!

Bobby Darrin helped break Wayne Newton with a re-working of his Mack The Knife. If you listen closely, Doncha Shane is the exactly same musical arranement as Darrin's Mack The Knife. The lyrics are changed, so is the melody a little. But the songs are virutally identical and you can sing both tunes to the music!

I'd say go with a GREAT cover that has been long forgotten or PROVEN and then do the rest original

YOu have to PAY to use the cover song and you don't get ASCAP or BMI royalties.

IT is a fact, however, that virtually EVERY girl, especially every Country-Pop girls has covered "Just Call Me Angel In The Morning."

Six Days on the Road has also been covered a lot.

Another good thing to do is what Linda Ronstadt used to do. She virtually NEVER used an original song, except for an occasionaly one from a boy friend like JD Souther or a musician in her band.

Most of the time she picked an oldie hit, then the REST of her albums are B sides that are good and SHE MAKES THEM BETTER.

Linda Ronstandt PERSONALLY fed Bonnie Raitt for six years in songwriter royalties (probably about $15,000 to $20,000 a year), because Bonnie had NO hits on her own, but Linda always covered one of her songs on each new album, long before "Let's Give Them Something To Talk ABout" came out!

Linda made hits out of Warren Zevon B sides like Poor Pitiful Me

Linda was excellent at picking a lesser known song and getting together with her producer (JD Souther, Peter Asher of the Peter and Gordon fame) to make it better.

She also proably did more Smokey Robinson cover's than anyone else.

Clive Davis tried to tell Laura Nyro what to do, but she wouldn't listen. Instead he told Blood Sweat And TEars how to make "And When I Die" into a hit and they did on their second album.

Do you know who Laura Nyro is? She's never had a hit but put out about 10 albums on CBS Records. Her hit was the BLood Sweat and Tears cover!

On the other hand Carole King has been writing hits for people since she was 15 and wanted to be a singer so bad it hurt! She self-produced two or three flops before she finally got Lenny Warnicker or Ted Templeman at Waners to help her with her classic Tapestry, in which she covered herself!

Now taht was Carol King doing 10 out of 12 CArol King hits, that had previouisly been made hits by others!

Answer 3

Creating original songs. I want to hear what the artist themselves think and feel. I like an artist if I can relate to what they're singing... something you won't find in covering songs. The original song is usually better 95% of the time anyway...

Answer 4

Creating original songs is better. I usually find that people who cover songs choose some ot the better songs in this world, that I don't understand what was wrong with them in the beginning.

Answer 5

I say creating original songs because I personally like to hear new beats & new lyrics. Nowadays, there are just too many revisions/remixes to songs. Some songs are barely 1 year old before someone adds their sounds to it.

Answer 6

Originality begets revival. Without the original song there is nothing to revive.

Answer 7

I think creators get more respect (and should), but a well thought out, unique treatment of a revival can become memorable in its own right.

Answer 8

I personally like it when artists remake an older song.

Answer 9

reviving songs

Answer 10

creating is way better! we don't want oldies turned new! we want new material completely!