Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Sometimes they’re artist submissions.
If you don’t know Slipknot, that picture above gives you the general idea. The band sings about murder and wears scary masks. Against all odds, they seem to take themselves seriously. In 2005 the band actually sued Burger King for stealing their image. The lawsuit fell apart, presumably because they couldn’t come up with a plausible reason why anyone would want their image.
Today we present a jazz cover of a Slipknot song. If you’re like me, you’ll go into this expecting to laugh hysterically. You won’t. It’s not a joke.
“Snuff” lends itself to the Billie Holiday torch song treatment more than most Slipknot. The ballad is shockingly…not shocking. The obsessed rantings sound like Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) in one of his more sensitive moments and the “I don’t deserve to have you” lyrics could have been written for any genre. This explains why Perry Ray’s slow jazz cover carries not a whiff or irony. It’s treated as just another song, removed from its ridiculous origins. Ray explained:
I was first introduced to Slipknot’s music by a mate in the October 2008 and was fixated on Snuff. Many of the other songs on the album, All Hope is Gone, were just too aggressive for my taste. But the passion and force of emotion was something I found appealing. I can’t remember how many times I replayed Snuff – soaking up the hurt, anger, disgust, hatred and the feeling of being broken. I wished I had written the lyrics – because I felt them and they made me want to roar. So it was a no-brainer – I would record the song for my new album and I could hear my arrangement in my head so clearly.
So, it’s on my album now. And turns out it is a real talking point – “Jazz singer sings Slipknot.” That was not my intention. My intention was to respectfully applaud and celebrate, what in my mind, is a great composition – dramatic, raw and beautiful – and interpret it my way. And I suppose it is my tribute to the musicians in Slipknot – because scary metal/rock may not be my first love – but a great song is a great song in any genre.
Talking point for sure, but it really is a convincing, beautiful performance. Listen below.
Check out more Parry Ray at her website or MySpace. The Way I’m Wired drops July 12.
fag msuic