Covers: Which One Is Better? Blog Assignment Week 3

Original: The Police- "Message In A Bottle"

The original “Message In A Bottle” by The Police was originally recorded in 1979. The song is supposedly about a story of a castaway on an island, who sends out a message in a bottle to seek love. A year later, he has not received any sort of response, and despairs, thinking he is destined to be alone. The next day, he sees "a hundred billion bottles" on the shore, finding out that there are more people like him out there.  In this original version, The Police have a fast beat and an eerie feeling to the song. It begins at a fast tempo driven with drums in the background that grow to be louder throughout the song. (I see this choice as a very characteristic choice from the time, which was 3 decades ago.) Also, throughout the song you hear at least three different guitar parts along with the drums and vocals. This musical quality that The Police use is a manipulation of timbre. The hopeless sounding lyrics about loneliness are somewhat supported by the descending guitar melody, but when when the chorus of the song arrives it seems a little bit happier because of the rhythm, pitch, and determination that the lyrics convey. I feel like the musical quality of this song is a little bit contradicted by the lyrics. First the lyrics and singing seem sad, but the accompanying music stays constant throughout the entire song.

Cover: John Mayer- "Message In A Bottle"

John Mayer’s version, recorded live in Birmingham, was first performed in 2006.  Much slower and played acoustically, John Mayer makes the story of the song seem much lonelier and jazzier. Although I'm sure John Mayer had the option of having a band accompany him for this song, he chose to do it alone with his guitar and to slow the tempo. I think this decision was beneficial to the plot of the song, giving the emotion time to set in to the listener.  In spite of the fact tht he didn't change the overall key of the song, John Mayer changed some of the chords which did make it sound completely different to me. The timbre is at a very low level compared to the original, the tempo is slower, there is only one voice, and the melody seems to flow together more fluently.

Even though I think that all of the credit should be given to The Police, I like John Mayer's version of the song so much better. When I listen to the song I actually get a sense of emotion opposed to what I feel when I listen to The Police version. The Melody seems so much more relaxed than it did in the Police version, and the musical quality blends together and really works for me. Personally, I appreciate live music simply for it's raw musical quality. I'm sure that if I heard the Police perform this song live I would feel differently.

I hope you enjoyed these songs and this week's post!
See you next time,
Maggie!