Glee covers that recontextualized the original song
So I think that the best thing a show like Glee can do to a song is use the original meaning and transform it into something different and hopefully meaningful to the context of its characters. We all know that out of the 700 or so songs covered a lot were just cash grabs, covering whatās popular to chart and get that iTunes money. But there were also some that were genuinely poignant to the characters and the storylines or just in general special in their own way. Recontextualisation can mean a lot of things and most GCVs are transforming the original just by virtue of existing within the narrative of the show but Iām looking for Glee versions that really feel like they elevate the song in some way, like they make you look at it in a different way.
Iāll share a few examples that have been on my mind but Iām sure there are many, many more, so please do add your own and explain it in as much detail as youād like, Iād love to hear your faves. Iāve chosen three solos and, as a preamble, Iām usually not a huge fan of solos as a type of cover on Glee. They were far more common than duets or group numbers but I think a solo has to work harder, in a way, to justify its existence as a cover. At least if you cover what was originally a solo as a duet or group number, you can play with several voices and the distribution of parts and create meaning through that. This really is just imo but I think a solo needs to have at least some form of recontextualization to make me care that a new singer is now covering it.
Luckily this does happen often in Glee and without further ado, here are just three examples that are my favourites/have been on my mind recently.
I just rewatched āGrilled Cheesusā today so I have very fresh memories of this Kurt performance. Originally, itās a pretty straightforward Beatles song with some generic lyrics and a pleasant melody - Beatles fans donāt come for me, Iām not saying thereās anything wrong with generic. Itās a pretty tame love song and not so overtly romantic that itād be weird for a song to sing it about a hospitalized father. In fact, it even has that soft quality that makes it pretty wholesome.
The recontextualisation, for me, comes in when we consider what holding his fatherās hand means to Kurt versus what it meant for the Beatles as a tame love song. Itās no longer about this most innocent of physical contacts between lovers but the desperate cry of a boy who wants his father to squeeze his hand back. Itās still about intimacy, in a way, but itās now about a familial bond and the need for someone to hold us and say itās gonna be okay.
Thereās one line in particular why this got stuck in my head and even made me write this post now, despite having been thinking about the other two examples for months and months. Itās this part:
Youāll let me be your man
As I was crying my eyes out watching flashbacks of the Hummels, this part struck me as particularly emotional in the context of their relationship. We get the feeling that before the seriesā start the relationship between father and son is somewhat distant. Donāt get me wrong, Burt has always looked after Kurt and tried his best but prior to Kurt officially coming out and the two actively working on this relationship it was an uneasy dynamic. Theyāve been getting better and trying more and itās wonderful to witness, but they both occasionally struggle with navigating their father-son bond in a homophobic world where Kurt is constantly being put down and Burt tried to unlearn harmful ideas he grew up with. As we see in season 1, thereās tension between the two when it comes to this concept of The Son who learns from The Father, and Iām being dramatic with the capitalization but thatās because these are larger themes theyāre working with. Conflict arises when Kurt feels like Burt is getting the father-son bonding they never did with Finn and, even though Burt doesnāt want him to feel this way, thereās a sense that Kurt isnāt manly enough to be his boy. Itās not their individual fault but itās a shitty thing regardless that Kurt doesnāt always feel like heās the son whom his father wanted, like he canāt grow into the man he wanted.
So when Kurt sings, ālet me be your manā, itās such a small thing in this already emotionally charged performance but it alone is enough to make me reconsider the whole song. Because Kurt wants nothing more than to be able to hold his dadās hand again and maybe even be the one who says itās all gonna be okay this time. He wants Burt to live long enough to see him become a man.
That Kurt section was longer than intended so letās see how much Iāve got to say about Unique, lol. Alex Newellās voice is such that a Unique solo was bound to end up as one of my favourites in the entire show but Iām really glad the character was allowed not only stunning vocals but narratively important songs. There are many interpretations to every song, but the way I see it BeyoncĆ©ās original version is about femininity and the double standards women face. Itās about trying to challenge people, specifically men to change perspective. Itās essentially a thought experiment about gender-swapping and it tells the story of misfortune on a small and personal scale.
Now think about it in the context of Uniqueās character. Particularly in the episode āThe End of Twerkā but really throughout her run on the show, Unique struggles with misgendering and flat-out transphobia. Sheās not always recognized for the woman she is, challenged about her gender identity, challenged about her right to exist, really. So itās in that context that weāre giving āIf I Were a Boyā, a song about hypothetical gender-swapping, to Unique, a trans woman. When Unique sings about the double standards between genders, it hits different because she knows what it feels like to be perceived as a man and it wasnāt true to who she was. Instead of challenging an unfaithful partner, Unique is challenging anyone listening to see that yes, it is different for men and women and it makes all the difference for her when people recognize and respect her as not just a boy but a woman. A woman who didnāt choose to be one and didnāt choose to have transphobia and gendered double standards be imposed on her.
I think that Uniqueās version still has that underlying plea of asking men to consider how it feels but it just has so many more layers now because of her identity and journey. Sheās speaking as someone who has been seen as a boy before but also as someone who is a woman and knows how tough it can be. We see some great acting through song from Alex Newell as they tear up during the performance without taking it too far and making it melodramatic. Instead, the heartbreak of this cover lies in its simplicity. As the song ends, itās ultimately that last line that keeps haunting me:
But youāre just a boyā¦
Because thatās what Uniqueās been told over and over again, and thatās a kind of meaning that never would have been there in the original version.
This really shouldnāt come as a surprise to anyone whoās heard me go on about, well, any aspect of this whole scene. Iāll try to keep it brief and weāll see how it goes. So with this one, Taylor Swift has spoken on several occasions about the idea behind the original song and Iām sure any Swiftie could do a much better job of explaining that context than I could here. For the purposes of this post, letās consider Taylorās version as a song about a could-be, a potential future that plays out with all the ups and downs and the hope of making it work despite everything that could stand in its way. Honestly thereās way more to be said about the original song but for now really just leave it at āultimately hopeful love story about a future together.ā
So what does Santana Lopez do, she uses it as a breakup song. Itās a serenade to Brittany reminiscent of āSongbirdā, except that was before a proper relationship between the two even formed and now here they are, at a painful end. Itās a slower and more melancholic version of the song and that alone means itās different but there are so many layers to what makes āMineā such a transformative cover and a very, very strong contender for my favourite Glee cover of all time. One, itās how Santana seems to use it to lament about their past and the future she imagined they would have but they might never get to experience. As Brittany says, she turns it into a sad song while the original was really more hopeful than anything. Two, Naya Riveraās acting once again shines as she conveys all the emotions she needs to while doing nothing more than sitting there and facing the girl she loves, in the room where they fell in love. Even without watching the performance, even if you just listen to the studio version you can hear the pain behind her words and how difficult this decision to end things is for her.
Those two aspects would already be enough and I could talk much more about both the context of the song and Nayaās vocals and acting, but I also want to focus on a third aspect. Much like with the first two songs, thereās a particular bit in the song that cements it as a recontextualised one in my mind. Said bit in āMineā is when the song switches perspective and the lyric changes to quoting this lover Taylor imagined a future with. Some of it is cut in the episode version but my favourite part made it in:
You said, āI remember how we felt, sitting by the water
(And every time I look at you, itās like the first time
I fell in love with a careless manās careful daughter)
She is the best thing thatās ever been mineā
Words cannot express how much I love this but Iāll try anyway. So once again there are several layers, and the one that strikes me the most is the pronoun. āMineā is a not very gendered song save for a few words here and there and the most we get is that the singer is a woman because of this quote part thatās from the loverās perspective. When Taylor sings āsheā and when Santana sings āsheā, we understand that theyāre talking about themselves through the loversā lens. But I love it so much when Glee does the pronoun change thing and though thatās not quite what happens here, I think itās important to highlight this one line and one word nonetheless. Because of the way Naya sings it, putting some slight emphasis on āshe is the best thingā and the way the whole scene is structured, Glee doesnāt have to touch the lyrics for us to still understand that this is transformed and itās Santana talking about Brittany. She is the best thing thatās ever been hers and sheāll always love her the most. And do you believe it now? Even though theyāre breaking up, theyāll make it somehow.
2087
stormborns
areudirty
tangentwithtanner
turnnoffyourmind
