Every time I  listen to this song on YouTube, I see someone insisting that this is a cover of the PM Dawn original. I don’t consider it an actual cover because lyrically, they are vastly different. The difference was surprised me. A sample of Spandau Ballet’s True is the only thing these two versions have in common. More accurately, it may be an adaptation for the group and its audience.

If someone else other than PM Dawn wrote the new version, I doubt people would have considered it a cover. There are plenty of songs with identical titles for one reason or another that are different. For example, no one would confuse Justin Bieber’s As Long You Love Me with the Backstreet Boys song.

The Millennium Bonus track I’ll Be There For You is one of many songs with that name. In fact, one YouTube commenter expected it to be a Friends theme cover which was humorous to me.   However, it was not surprising to me since I expected both versions of Set Adrift On Memory Bliss to be the same.

So, what is my cover song criteria? Allowing for small changes in POV and even the ending, an actual cover should be lyrically similar. My two favorite versions of Love On A Two Way Street below are examples.

And of course, what do you think? Am I splitting hairs on this as I usually do with some things?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59OzlyATD3s

As a side note, I like the Backstreet Boys version of Set Adrift… much better. I listened to the PM Dawn song, though, and it made no sense to me lyrically. Perhaps someone who understands PM Dawn’s music can explain it to me since PM Dawn was slightly before my time.

Related

Another lyrical look at the Backstreet Boys.

My Misheard Backstreet Boys Lyricshttps://margazine.blog/2021/07/my-misheard-backstreet-boys-lyrics/

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4 thoughts on “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss The great cover debate

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