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Originally Posted by glitter_fades
When I listen to a lot of her raw demos, I don't hear the same song as the final result. To me, it's not the lyrics that make the song. Her songs are almost void of musicality until the guitar parts, bridges, and other instrumentation are added. In the case of Rhiannon, does anyone think the plodding piano demo is the same song as the BN live performance or the White Album radio hit? Is it the great lyrics that perk your ears up to listen when you hear that song on the radio or is it all the additional guitar work and rockin tempo?
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If we're defining "song" the way the music world defines it, then yes, Stevie's piano demo of "Rhiannon" is the same song as the album recording and the live performances. Again, the lyrics, melody and chords are all there. It doesn't matter how different those versions sound, if different instruments or a different tempo are used. It's the same song, because the basic structure of the song is the same.
Think about it in terms of jazz. Who was it, Rodgers and Hammerstein? Wrote a little song for a movie musical, called "My Favorite Things." John Coltrane did things with that song that they never could have imagined, he ran circles around the melody, threw in all those incredible solos. The song sounds nothing like the version sung by Julie Andrews. But John Coltrane does not get songwriting credit on that song. And for good reason. I imagine R&H would have been quite miffed if Coltrane grabbed their song, their melody and chord progression, and was able to claim it as his own (even in part) simply by changing the instrumentation and the rhythm and by soloing over/around/through it.