Song Deconstruction

Listen to both of these songs. One is the original, the other is a cover. 

These two songs are about the same, but they are also very different. The way they are the same is in the structure and lyrics. I was surprised when Darren, who sings the cover, went into the dialogue from the original. It was a nice touch and it really added to the similarity of the two songs as far as structure goes. The songs are built the same way, with the same words being sung or said. But they are different in everything else. For example, the original has many more instruments like drums and brass, while the cover only had a guitar, which is normal. One big difference is at the very beginning. In the original, drums start the song to get it going. While in the cover he just starts right off with the first verse. The tempos of the two songs are not so different, but you can hear it; the original is faster than the cover, which has a medium tempo. With the cover, he only uses an acoustic guitar, which changes the groove of the song entirely. It goes from a moving, motivational song in the original to an acoustic, soothing feel in the cover.

It’s hard to say which one I like more, but I think I am a little biased as well. I tend to like anything Darren Criss sings. He could sing the phone book and I would listen to every second. The only thing I didn’t like in the cover was that the volume of the video was so low. It kind of took away from the song. But no matter how much I like his voice, I would pick the original song over Darren’s cover. My reasoning is that it is more motivational. I like music that pumps you up and gets you going. The original I’ll Make a Man Out of You really does that. You can be walking along and that song come on and suddenly you are the king (or queen) of the world; it makes you feel like you can do anything. Those are the best songs in my opinion.