Changing lyrics to a song

[buddyhu]

I think it might bother if it happened to every song.

I am all for people making a song their own. And I also understand and accept stumbling through lyrics and misremembering lyrics, and lyrics morphing over time as someone sings it hundreds of times. And I recognize the value of changing songs, as described by KYDave. And I have a song or two that I've considered too short, and have created verses of my own that can be added.

All that being said, much of the time I find that being true to the lyrics reveals the full integrity of the song, and the complete dimension of the character telling the story via the lyrics. Changing them around is a little like watching a movie that is edited for TV: you will still follow the plot, you may really enjoy it, but it is not the movie that the director intended, and some of the nuances might get lost. So if someone changes the lyrics of every song, I would start to feel a bit annoyed.

Obviously, it is not a big deal. And some of my favorite artists have absolutely butchered lyrics on a regular basis (good old Grateful Dead would be an example). So it isn't exactly a fatal flaw.

But I am with you, Andromeda.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by buddyhu

I think it might bother if it happened to every song.

I am all for people making a song their own. And I also understand and accept stumbling through lyrics and misremembering lyrics, and lyrics morphing over time as someone sings it hundreds of times. And I recognize the value of changing songs, as described by KYDave. And I have a song or two that I've considered too short, and have created verses of my own that can be added.

All that being said, much of the time I find that being true to the lyrics reveals the full integrity of the song, and the complete dimension of the character telling the story via the lyrics. Changing them around is a little like watching a movie that is edited for TV: you will still follow the plot, you may really enjoy it, but it is not the movie that the director intended, and some of the nuances might get lost. So if someone changes the lyrics of every song, I would start to feel a bit annoyed.

Obviously, it is not a big deal. And some of my favorite artists have absolutely butchered lyrics on a regular basis (good old Grateful Dead would be an example). So it isn't exactly a fatal flaw.

But I am with you, Andromeda.

Basically I don't mind if there is some clever or humorous reason but as you say not on every song or more like on one or two maybe . But something that has always struck me, was the different different lyric versions Dylan himself had for "You Ain't Going Nowhere" he even started the song with two different opening lines. From the first version that was "Ghenghis Kahn and His Brother Don" which later morphed into "Clouds So Swift , Rain Won't Lift" which is the version I cover.

Something else of note that perhaps people may not be aware of, is that legally if you are using someone else's copyrighted song but have intentionally changed any of the lyrics, it is no linger considered a "cover" and no longer falls under the normal licensing protocol for covers. Instead it is legally considered a "Derivative Work" and can not legally be performed or published with out express written permission from the copyright holder.

[seannx]

Originally Posted by Andromeda

Gosh no, I have bigger problems than this. Oh, this is just a mild little annoyance I was posting to see if this would bother anyone else.

Well please don't hold back. Let's hear a big problem.

[Irish Pennant]

I'm hard of hearing, it doesn't matter what the lyrics say, I always hear something different. What I usually find disappointing is when I finally read the lyrics.

[Andromeda]

I have actually added verses to a song myself....Home on the Range and Wayfaring Stranger are two in the public domain that I have added extra verses to.

I also written a third verse for Take Me Home Country Roads that I play only to friends due to copyright issues. I do like that.

Be these sprinkling of extra words in well known song I usually do not do.

But upon further thought I know what is bothering me about this particular person. He is a John Denver tribute artist and John Denver himself was starting to do this very thing toward the end of his career. JD would ad a word or too in a phrase that wasn't originally there. For example, at the end of "Leaving on a Jet Plane" instead of singing "Oh Babe I hate to go....." JD sang, with more emotion...."Oh Baby....I hate to go...."

Now this guy really pours it on with adding these extra words and emotions too boot. He also has copied John's mannerisms and even the vocal inflections when he talks to the audience. It is like he is trying to be John Denver with such sincerity and to the minute detail but it all comes across as so phony to me. It is as if he has gone way over the top in trying to BE John Denver.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by ewalling

No, that wouldn't bother me. I'd see it as perhaps a way of 'owning' the song without changing its meaning. If someone made significant changes to the content words and altered the essential meaning, however, that might bother me - it would be like someone plagiarizing someone else's music by inserting their own lyrics.

I agree. You mention the author but you sing it your way.
I often have to change the words of an American song a little as some phrases might be meaningless in the UK but I can paraphrase them without losing anything to help understanding.

With blues /hokum numbers, the phrasing and lyrics may well change every time I sing 'em.

[buddyhu]

Originally Posted by Andromeda

Now this guy really pours it on with adding these extra words and emotions too boot. He also has copied John's mannerisms and even the vocal inflections when he talks to the audience. It is like he is trying to be John Denver with such sincerity and to the minute detail but it all comes across as so phony to me. It is as if he has gone way over the top in trying to BE John Denver.

"Be a clone, be a clone,
All the world, loves a clone?"

[Andromeda]

Originally Posted by buddyhu

"Be a clone, be a clone,
All the world, loves a clone?"

Back about 12-15 years ago I used to be the ones who tried to be a John Denver clone until I realized I was not being real or being who I am.

Originally Posted by Irish Pennant

I'm hard of hearing, it doesn't matter what the lyrics say, I always hear something different. What I usually find disappointing is when I finally read the lyrics.

In the seventies I was in a Southern Rock band that did a song called "Green Grass and High Tides" by the Outlaws, and I sang it. The lyrics were incomprehensible, there was no internet, so I made up nonsense lyrics that kind of sounded like what Hughie Thomasson was singing, and this worked fine for our needs. Years later, when I finally found the lyrics on the internet I found they made about as much sense as the gibberish I was singing.

[Glennwillow]

Lou-ai-lou-eh, oh-way, bebb-eh, oh, we ga go.... yeah, yeah, yeah, ya!

Or, something like that...

- Glenn

[Silly Moustache]

This is a version which differs somewhat from what is commonly heard ...or expected. It gives me another chance to show the genius of the Late Isaac Guillory.

[Mr Bill]

I read an article about the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band when they recorded "Mr. Bojangles." Their copy of the original recording by author Jerry Jeff Walker was so scratched and beat up that they thought he was singing "...as the smoke ran out," when he was actually singing "...as he spoke right out."

They sang the 'smoke' lyrics, and it became the most popular version of the song. An honest mistake; no harm intended or done.

[harmonics101]

Someone changing the lyrics to a song WOULD bother me, does bother me for certain signature (in my mind) songs. SO, unless you are trying to convey some originality into a cover song, I would probably prefer to hear the song's lyrics being produced verbatim, take the Star Spangled Banner, sing the **** song the way it was meant that's more presentation and not verbatim, but you get the picture,

H

[Scootch]

If I'm going to sing it, I'm going to sing it the way I want it. Sometimes exactly, sometimes I improve it.

[harmonics101]

Originally Posted by Scootch

If I'm going to sing it, I'm going to sing it the way I want it. Sometimes exactly, sometimes I improve it.

Chances are you will alienate more people, inserting your own lyrics, than if you would sing the song verbatim,

H