Burning Ring of Song Comparisons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIBTg7q9oNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W61l6Y_IGT0

Tempo- Original song: medium

Cover version: fast

Source- Original song: drums

Cover version: drums

Groove- Original song: walking

Cover version: driving

Instrumentation- original song: acoustic guitar and horns

Cover version: electric guitars and bass

Structure- Both verse chorus verse chorus verse chorus

Emotional architecture- original song: starts as a pulsing trance, balloons up to emotional tumult, this cycle repeats three times

Cover version: starts as energetic rhythm, bursts into punky jam, this cycle repeats three times

Balance- Original: Height is low to middle, width is balanced, depth is about five layers

Cover version: height is low to high, width is balanced,  depth is about four layers

  The song "Burning Ring Of Fire" by Johnny Cash, is a classic piece of American culture. Cash was a legendary performer, writer, and figure in our cultural landscape, and this song was one of his trademarks. The cover of the song was done by Social Distortion, a band who tote around much clout in the punk scene. They are a completely different type of cultural icon, admired by angst riddled teens, and frustrated adults alike. Henceforth both the original and cover version of this song say much about the performers who recorded them.

  Johnny Cash's recording is a mid-tempoed classic, which has a pulsing bass line and light drums, while Social Distortion pump up both the tempo and the volume to achieve a nineties rock feel. The intensity of the instrumentation may be far more evident in the cover version, but the emotional architecture of the original is profoundly more pronounced.

   Cash sings with more feeling and a completely different range than the singer of Social distortion. Cash's voice is bass heavy, deep, and smooth, while Social Distortion"s singer is treble heavy, high, and scratchy. The timbre of the original is contained and clear, while the timbre of the cover is distorted and rough.

    Lyrically both songs are the same, but Cash has a slight southern drawl and Social Distortion's singer has a southern California accent.

    The pitch is much lower in the original and the highest pitch is the high note from the horn section, which is still relatively in the middle of the sonic spectrum. The cover has much higher pitch's from the vocals and the guitar's than the original.

      The instrumentation of the original is rooted in folk tradition and contains acoustic guitar, stand up bass, and trumpets. All of these are non-electric and produce clean tones if recorded correctly. Meanwhile, the instrumentation in Social Distortions version consists of electric guitar, electric bass, and a full drum kit. The first two of these are electric instruments, and the guitars produce a distorted tone. The electric bass isn't as deep or resonant, but it does have more sustain and sharper attack, which means it makes a more percussive sound when the strings are plucked. The full drum kit on played in the cover version is much louder and has many more symbols and toms, while the original is a much smaller kit which focuses around a snare drum played with brushes rather than sticks, which makes for a smoother and more roll oriented sound as opposed to a more brash and sharp pounding sound.

       The melody of the two songs is also the same, with any differences being strictly minute artistic contrasts.

     The organization of the two songs is identical.

     Overall the two songs are a great example of how two artists can express the same thing in completely different manors. I prefer the Johnny Cash version because it is cleaner and more emotionally gratifying. It also is a classic which defines a time, a place, and a person, the way the cover simply does not accomplish.