Day 30: Covers

I found something online yesterday that I couldn’t quite figure out — a video from Weezer featuring a cover of the 80s song “Africa,” by Toto. Listen for yourself if you haven’t heard it yet:

"Africa" by Weezer

My question was, “Why?” Is Rivers Cuomo a huge Toto fan? I'm not saying I would blame him. I like Toto a great deal, thanks to the influence of several of my cousins who are true lifelong superfans. They’re a group of great musicians I’ve been listening to for a long, long time. I might even go as far as to put their 2014 live album “Live in Poland” on my list of top 20 live albums. But a Weezer cover of “Africa?” Was there a demand for this? In all honesty, it’s never been one of my favorite Toto songs, even if it’s reached a level of ubiquity that probably makes a lot of people think of Toto as a one-hit wonder. 

Turns out there was a demand. I guess some high school kid out there has been working at making this happen since last winter, and his Twitter followers have been growing ever since. For whatever reason, Weezer finally obliged. The recording isn’t bad and stays fairly true to the original. I even kind of like it. Maybe it will eventually bring back my appreciation for the original song that dried up back in 1989 or so. 

I don’t listen to the radio a ton, but I’ve noticed a run of recent cover versions appearing on the airwaves lately: “Zombie” by the Cranberries, covered by Bad Wolves; “Gone Away” by the Offspring, covered by Five Finger Death Punch, and “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel, covered by Disturbed. The Disturbed cover reminded me of how they had released a cover of “Land of Confusion” by Genesis ten or so years back. Back then I was listening to Nephew #1 and his middle school buds talking about their favorite songs at the time, and one mouthy little punk started holding court on how Disturb's "Land of Confusion" was the best song out there. I had an overwhelming urge to poke a tiny hole in his self-perceived musical omniscience, so I innocently asked the group of them, “Have you guys ever heard the original version?” 

This momentarily threw off his swagger. I could tell his first reaction would have been to challenge me that an original version didn't exist, but since he couldn’t say that conclusively and recognized I was old enough to know better, he pulled back a little. “There is one?” he asked. I nodded. “Yep. From Genesis. Came out in ’86.” I’m sure to him 1986 seemed like pre-color television history, so I just let him digest that. It didn’t take long for him to shrug it off, though. “Whatever,” he replied. “The newer one is still way better.” 

I desperately wanted to point out there was no possible way he could judge this if he had only learned an earlier version existed ten seconds earlier, but having taught as long as I have I knew better than to try and logic my way through making a point with a kid who thought the apex on the good idea pyramid would be to ride a grocery cart downhill without a helmet. Besides, I had made a similar argument back in 1982 with my cousin Eric, when there was no way I would bend on the idea that “Crimson and Clover” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts was a better song than the original by, I believe, Tommy James and the Shondells…whatever the hell a Shondell was supposed to be. 

To this day, I still hold true to that opinion. In fact, there are several covers out there I probably like a lot more than the originals, and likely for as many different reasons as there are different songs. I loved Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer” in high school, and I still do. There was a cover of it by the post-millennial band The Ataris that was also really good, but not better. That didn’t happen until another 80s act, The Hooters, covered it in 2008 on an attempt at a comeback album with a heartbreaking reinterpretation. If you’ve never heard it, you owe it to yourself to track it down and give it a listen someday.

My family is made up of dozens of music fans, and we like to put together a lot of musical quizzes / challenges / games / lists on Facebook, just to stir things up and share opinions through the comment conversation. For anyone reading this,  especially if you’re coming here from the Facebook link, I’m going to challenge you to list at least one cover song you really like, or one that you simply can’t stand. Or hey, go for one of each if you want, or even a Top 10 list if you feel so inspired. If we get a few people sharing some ideas here, I might even put the work into thinking up my own top 10 list. 

I’m pretty sure Weezer’s cover of “Africa” won’t be on it, though.