Songbird: Original and Cover-which is better?

[bretonbanquet]

Originally Posted by David

Eva Cassidy sounds (or sounded) like a hundred other singers. In all that "purity" & "beauty," you'd be hard-pressed to locate anything that stamps Eva as an indivual style, one you could pick out at fifty paces. Furthermore, what's operating here is what I would call sonic redundancy: Why surround a syrupy, overtly "beautiful" singer with a syrupy, overtly "beautiful" arrangement & production? It's too conventional. It turned Christine's "little prayer" into a mawkish spectacle.

Christine, on the other hand (or foot), sings & phrases so individually as to be recognizable even in two-second snippets from unnamed sources. Chris developed one of the most singular, individual vocal styles of that era. It's like a Billie Holiday situation. Nobody sounds like Christine. Nobody sings just the way she does.

Originally Posted by SortaSavageLike

You know why so many people prefer Eva Cassidy's version more? Because she's a martyr. Yes - much like test pilots, the best career move a singer or musician can ever make is to die.

All true. Songbird is not a song I love, but Christine's version is not going to be bettered by anyone else who just picks it up and sings the words. Eva Cassidy is / was "OK". Really nothing special. Anyone who thinks her bland, syrupy version of this song beats the spot-on, heartfelt Rumours version needs their ears washed out.