Battle of the Bands: "Somebody That I Used to Know"

It's November 1st, time once again for the Battle of the Bands (BOTB), the blogging event originally started by Stephen T. McCarthy and FarAwayEyes back in August of 2013. It occurs twice every month -- on the 1st and the 15th -- and is a fun way to share and discuss music. Each of the bloggers taking part offers their readers a choice of two (or occasionally more) versions of the same song, performed by different recording artists. And the readers get to vote for their favorite rendition.

In my BOTB post from October 1st, I put together a battle based on The Last Time and Bitter Sweet Symphony -- a song that led to lawsuits over the use of samples and opened the question as to when is a new song really a cover, and "how much" of a sample is acceptable to use?  I also touched on some of the issues regarding sampling and copyrights regarding my use of samples from Lily Pons in my piece, "Bell Song" in my last post.

In this battle, I'm doing something a little different, but touching on some of those same issues. Today, I'm highlighting a "cover" that was re-done by the original artist, but not using any new or "original" sounds, but instead using samples of other covers of that artist's original song.

So let's get on with it:

Let the Battle Begin!

In July of 2011, the Australian (born in Belgium) musician Wouter Andre "Wally" De Backer released the song Somebody That I Used to Know under his commonly-known name of Gotye.  The song became an enormous hit -- it reached #1 in many, many countries and has been heard a gazillion times.  The 'official' video is below -- it has over 570 million views on You Tube. Yes, that's 570 MILLION -- it a  hugely popular song!

Give a listen:

It's an catchy song, isn't it? Simple, but with a clever arrangement, interesting instrumentation, and a universal sentiment that anyone who has loved and lost can relate to at some level. The song has nice dynamic range, a melody that really sticks in your brain, and a chorus that is easy and inviting to sing along with.

This video has also sparked a TON of covers -- thousands of them!  Most of them from "unknown" musicians.  This song became an internet phenomenon, infesting social media, flooding You Tube, and stoking the entirely modern  urge of people to make videos of themselves.

In the past, the "music mass producers" used to be a small number of sources distributing their limited 'product' to the masses, but as this sea of videos shows, it has now become commonplace for the masses to create their own music and to share it among themselves, even if it's often only parodies and cover material. I find this a thoroughly fascinating transition, although perhaps a little overwhelming -- there is now just SO MUCH music available out there that no human will ever be able to hear it all.

Someone could spend endless hours on You Tube listening to all the covers of Somebody That I Used to Know -- there are acapella versions, versions with 5 people on 1 guitar, metal-guitar versions, versions with 5 people on 1 bouzouki, choir versions, and untold thousands of others, both real and parody.

Goyte -- whose solo records have often featured musical samples saw some potential in this treasure trove of material, and put together his own "cover" video.  Here's what he said about it:

Reluctant as I am to add to the mountain of interpretations of Somebody That I Used To Know seemingly taking over their own area of the internet, I couldn't resist the massive remixability that such a large, varied yet connected bundle of source material offered.



Thank you to everyone who has responded to Somebody That I Used To Know via YouTube. It's truly amazing!

All audio and video in Somebodies is from the YouTube user videos featured, each of them a cover or parody of Somebody That I Used To Know. No extra sounds were added to the mix, but I used some EQ, filtering, pitch-shifting and time-stretching to make the music.

 I avoided using any existing remixes of the song, or any covers from tv talent shows.


Here's the sampled re-cover of the original covers of the original song, remixed and "created" by the original artist -- Sombodies: A YouTube Orchestra:

This is a lot of fun, huh?

But here's a question: Is this a "cover" or a "parody"?  Or a cover of parodies? Or a parody of covers?

Or is this really even Gotye's "song"?  Well, yes -- of course the source song itself was his, but in this video, Gotye does none of the performance and makes none of the sounds. It's all samples of other videos. So is it really even "his" work???

Does it even matter?

Probably not to many, but I find it interesting how it again touches on a lot of the same issues of ownership of songs, and "originality," and "inspiration" versus "sampling" that came up in the Oct 1st BOTB post with The Last Time versus Bitter Sweet Symphony, and in my "Forgotten Voices" sampled tunes.

Does making a YouTube of yourself covering a song violate the copyright? Maybe. Or does it depend on the intent? This is why that "parody" versus "cover" thing matters. Perhaps sharing something for free on YouTube versus charging for downloads probably helps determine the intent.

Perhaps.  But at any rate -- even if people suddenly felt some weird desire to make them -- I'm pretty certain that you'd never see this many homemade cover videos of The Last Time on YouTube.  I also strongly doubt that the owners of the copyright of that song would ever choose to make a fun remix video from those recorded covers. More likely there would be an army of lawyers rapidly dispatched and the cover videos pulled as soon as any sprouted on You Tube.

Your Vote

So now it's your turn to add your input: Which version do you like better?  The original by Gotye, or the sampled "cover of the covers," also "by" Gotye?  And what do you think about some of the issues I mentioned regarding originality and sampling and covers and all of that?

I invite you to listen to both version and give them each a chance. And while I usually tell you to focus on the music and not the video, here the videos are the core components, so today you should keep your eyes open to enjoy them!

After listening (and watching), please vote in the comments as to which version you think is best, or which speaks to you the deepest. Feel free to also share as much as you would like about how any of the above videos strike you, even if it's less than positive. Add in your thoughts about "sampling" versus "original" material versus "parodies" of songs on YouTube.

Then -- afterwards, check out the other BOTB bloggers to vote on their battles:

• Far Away Series (FarAwayEyes)
• Stephen T. McCarthy's Battle of the Bands Blog
• Tossing it Out (Arlee Bird)
• Your Daily Dose (Robin)
• DiscConnected (DiscConnected)
• Mike's Ramblings (Mike Pain)
• Curious as a Cathy (Cathy Kennedy)
• John Hilton (The Sound of One Hand Typing)
• And even Alex J. Cavanaugh sometimes...

Thank you very much for listening and for voting -- come back and visit again next week to find out how the voting has gone.  I'll make a post then with my own vote and also announce the winner.

And in the meantime -- feel free to drop by my blog often.  Don't let yourself just become somebody that I used to know!