Hark to Tanner - Billie Jean (Simple Michael Jackson Cover)
Keep it simple, stupid.
So, here it is, merry Christmas my first foray with the battlements of notoriety. This is the first of, what will hopefully be, the many captured and captivating performances that are my pleasure to deliver. I love to perform, and though this is not an all singing, all dancing, cabaret show, it is a small glimpse into what I may one day turn into a thing worth watching.
Why Billie Jean?
I picked one of the songs that currently sits on my DTube channel, it just so happened to be a cover of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean; I recently made the switch from YouTube to DTube.
‘…But, the kid is not my son.’
Although Billie Jean is the baby child of the late and great Macko Jacko, it isn’t the version that I modelled my cover off. Years ago, when I was young, and still had the fire of youth warming my soul, I was introduced to an arrangement of this song performed by The Civil Wars. They gave this piece a dark and sombre country-blues edge, which I thought transferred very well to an acoustic ensemble...
‘Who can stand when she’s in demand.’
I would adore having an accompanying female vocalist, stood by my side, crooning so confidently from lyrics to lyric but, alas, I will have to settle for the bells, Esmerelda.
The execution of this piece is excellent and, while I would forgive you for not liking it (if it is not in your taste), you may be forced to agree that The Civil Wars have hashed out a niche in which they can comfortably ooze their collective talent. The vocal harmonies are fantastically creative, alluring, and the slower tempo really draws out the poignancy of the lyrics.
I know that a lot of people are doing this these days; slowing down songs or rethinking them somehow – we are in the age of remakes. However, every now and then, a group, band, or artist comes forward with an absolutely crakin’ rendition of a song and we all fall in love.
)
‘Don’t go around breaking young girl’s hearts’
A heartbreaker I am not; this is a simple cover of a very commonly covered song. If you enjoy it, then fantastic – drinks are on me! However, I would love and greatly appreciate your feedback (good or bad), and I hope to be filling up your ears with many more of my mouth sounds soon enough.
Notice the mic-stand hit at 2:40, and how the disappointment in myself turns into a soulful and emotion-felt turn of the head. This must have been my fifth take and, with the 32oC weather turning me into a human Niagara Falls, the room I was in was a veritable hotbox of failure.
For further interest.
For those of you who are of a musical or technical inclination, these words, I write for you…
I play this song in a simple drop D tuning (DADGBE) in the key of D minor. I just took the chords from the Civil Wars version and adjusted the key to suit my vocal range. After this, I just added in some fancy picking and Bob was almost literally my uncle.
The microphones I have used to record are:
Mid/Side Stereo (Guitar)
Microphone (Vocals)
I feed all of these into a Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 and use Cubase as my DAW.
I hope that your ears aren't bleeding,
Dan.
Ok, so I watched the your video first, before even reading this article, and have not watched the Civil Wars version yet. But what I noticed while listening to your performance was that I never craved the original over your rendition.
What I mean is that often, when an iconic song is reproduced as a cover, even if it's pretty good, I will find myself still waiting to hear more familiarity. Such was not the case with your cover. As the chorus came round again, my mind was already looking forward to your phrasing and nuances.
Now I have to go listen to the version on which you based your cover, but let it be said, you nailed that song!
Have you considered entering one of the open mic contests? You really should.
Haha, wait until you hear the Civil Wars version - it's so much better.
I appreciate your kindness, I desperately need to release more covers and, you're right, I need to do an open mic at some point. I'm just fortunately/unfortunately a very busy person.
Wow... The Civil Wars have a new fan... Hauntingly beautiful vocals...
I am still impressed by your version. You should definitely carve out some time to enter it into the openmic contest.