Something's always baffled me about the way people address the existence of multiple variations of a popular song. There are always, without fail, several schools of thought that people carry:
1) Whichever version I heard first is the best version
2) The original version is always the best version
3) Whichever version lines up closest to my preferred music genre is the best version
There are others, but those 3 seem to dominate the often heated arguments people have about what version is the 'best' version.
As an appreciator of ALL forms of music, this puzzles me (yes
bbstenniz, I still appreciate death metal and grindcore, despite the fact that they are not my favorite musical genres by any means). Arguably, the longest running debate about 'best' version of a song is Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Ranging from the original as sung with technical elegance by Judy Garland to the phenomenal, heartfelt cover version by Eva Cassidy, people seem to feel the need to say "this version is the best" or "this version SUCKS, (insert name here) always will be the best". Why is this so?
The most recent popular example is the immensely popular song "Hallelujah", originally written and performed by Leonard Cohen, later covered stunningly by Jeff Buckley, wonderfully recreated by K.D. Lang, and most recently, covered and reinterpreted soulfully by X-Factor 2008's winner Alexandra Burke. WHY is it that the Jeff Buckley purists must insist that all other versions are $#!T compared to his, or the naive Alexandra fans with only have X-Factor as a musical culture reference calling it the best simply because she's the one who sang it? I really don't get it. Granted, Jeff Buckley was given kudos by Leonard Cohen himself for capturing a large part of the essential feeling and heart of the song, but does that immediately discredit all other versions? No! Alexandra Burke's version is another twist on the song, somewhat happier and more uplifting than Jeff Buckley's version, which actually is part of Leonard Cohen said was his original intent for the song. Does this make hers better than his? No!
What's my point? Simple. Is it so hard to toss artist, genre, originality and interpretation biases aside, and just appreciate the beauty and majesty of music itself? I don't think so.