In the beginning...

...there was folk music. People who had access to talent, instruments and an audience would play songs they'd written or heard somewhere, often before a few family and friends, or—if they were fortunate—in some community venue. They would strum, pick, puff and belt out these ditties to the best that their abilities, or memories, allowed. With the prevalence of the gramophone and radio, commercial music became commonplace and, initially, was often the first time a tune had ever enjoyed a mass audience. But now, you can barely listen to the radio or YouTube a video without hearing sampling, stolen chords, tributes, remixes and covers of songs you’ve heard before. And too all of that I say...

Bring it on. I love a good cover. I've even liked a bad cover or two. And I get absolutely giddy when I discover that a great cover has replaced the original as the elusive "definitive" version. This blog will chronicle the life of songs that have the nasty habit of shamelessly taking up with new artists—to varied results.