The word “cover” has fourteen meanings—nine as a verb and five as a noun.
I’m going to discuss the third meaning of the word as a noun: a recording or performance of a previously recorded song made especially to take advantage of the original’s success. For example, they cover songs by Queen.
Our family spends the month of March sending each other a song of the day. Each day has a topic. For example, play a song you enjoy but think is too long—think Hey Jude or Freebird.
Another day was to pick a song that cover another song but in a different genre.
It is easy to find covers that stay within the same genre. The Beatles covered the Isley Brothers’ Twist and Shout. Whitney Houston covered Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.” I’m still determining if the second one is a genre change, but I know it is a step backward.
I personally submitted the Pet Shop Boys’ cover of Willie Nelson’s “Always on My Mind.” I had a CD of Eagles songs covered by county music singers in college.
So, who cares? You likely wish I was talking about bedspreads, outscoring your opponent by more than the point spread, or laying down some gunfire that allows the rest of your squadron to escape. (I told you cover has a lot of different meanings).
So, what is the big deal with all this talk about cover? Easy.
Too often, people pass on things somebody else does as their work. I can understand if the listener doesn’t recognize the work as somebody else’s, but the person speaking should. A good book will have many footnotes to tell me where the ideas originated.
Society often gets things wrong. Yogi Berra often said that about half of the things credited to him weren’t said by him.
Mark Twain gets credit for much more than he really said.
It matters to me because it shows humility. Humble people make sure others are given the credit they deserve.
It works that way at work.
When somebody shares an idea and somebody else makes a slight improvement, it is refreshing when the second person says something like it is someone else’s idea; I’m just amplifying it.
When that happens, it becomes a win-win situation. The original person looks good because of the idea, and the second person looks good because they look humble.
So, my challenge to everybody is to treat others how you want to be treated. Find ways to give other people credit. It shows off your humility and ability to see good ideas. Plus, it is easier than coming up with new ideas.
And if you tell somebody you love a song and they tell you it was written by Bob Dylan, accept it and humbly come to terms with the fact that Bob Dylan is a fantastic songwriter and not an awful singer.