Cover the 50's - Official Announcement

Welcome to the “Cover the 50’s” Competition! As part of the “Cover the Decades” competition, you’ll be given a song to cover representing a decade of music. This time, we’re looking at the 1950’s and we’re looking for the best cover of the 1956 hit, “Fever”.

Do your best cover of Fever. Keep the core of the lyrics in tact, and keep the song recognizable, but get creative! Change up the genre, time signature, instrumentation. For more details on the song: Click Here

Submit your best cover by July 31,2018 and you’ll have a chance to win a killer prize package!
Work together in a collaboration with others, or take this challenge on solo. The choice is yours.

For the full official rules: Click Here

One winner winner will take home a prize package valued at $700 from IK Multimedia, Boz Digital Labs, and Rusty Frets Guitar Shop. For more details on the prize. Click Here

If you have ANY questions, please post them on this thread. And good luck to each of you!!

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Feel free to share the link to this thread to share this contest on social media, reddit, other forums, etc. Thanks everyone!!

I tweeted this on the IRD Twitter page and pinned it so that it stays at the top!

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Thank you!!

So would a parody be automatically disqualified? I can’t tell if I am a really bad reader, or if you add things after the initial post.

Either way, I had come up with these lyrics, but I don’t want to bother going forward with recording if it could not qualify…

Please advise.

Beaver

You never know how much I watch ya
Never know how much I stare
When you use your teeth to cut trees,
I get a feelin’ that’s so hard to share, I see a beaver

Ch. With webbed hind feet
Beavers have poor eyesight
Beavers sleep in mornings
Cause beavers work through the night

Building dams ain’t easy
Blocking waterways
No one could admire you the way I do
'Cause they don’t know how to love you my way, I see a beaver

Ch. With webbed hind feet
Beavers have poor eyesight
Beavers sleep in mornings
Cause beavers work through the night

Bless my soul, I get you
You never take time to play
I’d trade these arms if I could choose
For a broad flat tail any day, I see a beaver

Ch. With webbed hind feet
Beavers have poor eyesight
Beavers sleep in mornings
Cause beavers work through the night

Sun lights up the daytime
Moon lights up the night
My eyes light up when you shape the land
'Cause Mother Nature taught you right, I see a beaver

Ch. With webbed hind feet
Beavers have poor eyesight
Beavers sleep in mornings
Cause beavers work through the night

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@jamestoffee
If you want to submit a parody, I’d probably suggest uploading that to the “bash this” category. Although I love what you did and would LOVE to hear it, we are actually trying to play by the rules as it pertains to licensing etc. We’re actually paying the fees etc to facilitate this contest, and in doing so, it prohibits us from parodies in this case. So… we can’t accept it as an actual “official” entry.

That said… I still want to hear what you do with this :wink:

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Wow! I didn’t think anyone would inquire about this. @jamestoffee, I’m working with @holster, our forum admin on the licensing component of this contest. Believe it or not, we could possibly consider allowing these. Complete parodies (even if they serve a commercial purpose) are considered fair use and are completely exempt from licensing, so long as ALL (and not part) of the lyrics to the original tune have been replaced. 25 years ago, this decision was made at the United States Supreme Court and has been a standard practice since.

I’d like to call this to the attention of the other moderators…I wouldn’t mind including it because it could make this contest very interesting and certainly bring some good laughs!!! They may or may not be hip to the idea, but I’ll bring it to the table.

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Sweet! So bring on the parodies!!

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Thanks Jonathan and @holster, for the quick and positive responses.

Hi Jonathan,

So this revised version should fit the bill and be considered a parody. Correct?

I’ve watched a million shows about you
Please excuse me when I stare
When you use your teeth to cut trees,
I post on snapchat so I can share, I see a beaver

Ch. With webbed hind feet
Beavers have poor eyesight
Beavers sleep in mornings
Cause beavers work through the night

Building dams ain’t easy
Blocking waterways
I paddle up close in my canoe
'Cause I’m hoping we can be friends someday, I see a beaver

Ch. With webbed hind feet
Beavers have poor eyesight
Beavers sleep in mornings
Cause beavers work through the night

Busy beaver, I get you
You never take time to play
I’d trade my arms if I could choose
For a broad flat tail any day, I see a beaver

Ch. With webbed hind feet
Beavers have poor eyesight
Beavers sleep in mornings
Cause beavers work through the night

Flowers spring up in springtime
Fireflies watch through night
I’m delighted when you shape the land
'Cause Mother Nature taught you right, I see a beaver

Ch. With webbed hind feet
Beavers have poor eyesight
Beavers sleep in mornings
Cause beavers work through the night

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Haha! That change to the fourth line is hilarious. I can’t wait to hear this song recorded! Too funny!

Now that Bryan @holster has given the green light on this, every single word didn’t have to be replaced. Your first version would have been fine (though I got a kick out of the snapchat thing is funny in the second).

What I meant was that you can not write a parody verse but use it alongside an unaltered original chorus.

Just incase you’re interested, if you plan to write and publish parodies in the future, I would defer to the four litmus criteria clarified by SCOTUS. The nature and character of the parody, the purpose, the amount and substatinalness vs the original by large, and the likelihood that it would cause any real market interference. But as far as this contest goes, it looks like you’re good to go on either version of lyrics.

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Thanks for the feedback and advice, Jonathan.

I think it could be a dam good song. :wink: I can tell you have the Fever for the Beaver.

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so we are talking about this song?

That’s the one!

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I was 7 when this came out in 56. Remember it well. ha ha Going to have my granddaughter Gracie do this with me. Sounds like fun. At first i thought about taking the beaver thing in a different direction. ha ha
I hope our Emma submits something way our there :slight_smile: (she is capable)

Looking forward to hearing what you come up with!!

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I hope to be dusting off my mic for this :+1:

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You better be!!