When does a cover song make you hear the original for the first time?

This week, we’re talking about covers that don’t just recreate a song — they take it somewhere completely different.

*Content note:* We briefly discuss themes of domestic violence and murder while talking about Eminem’s “’97 Bonnie & Clyde” and Tori Amos’s reinterpretation.

Beyoncé turns Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” from a plea into something closer to a warning. Sturgill Simpson transforms an ’80s synth-pop hit into a devastating country ballad. Tori Amos changes the entire perspective of an Eminem song without changing the lyrics. And Joan As Police Woman takes T.I.’s swagger and turns it into something altogether stranger.

What makes a cover work when it moves far away from the original? Does something have to remain — a melody, a feeling, a lyric — for it to still feel like the same song? And can changing the singer, genre or point of view reveal something that was hiding in the original all along?

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Can music connect you to a culture you grew up with — or one you didn't?🎶 Playlist here: https://playrecordpodcast.sdz.sh/hispanic-heritage-month

Here are the artists we discuss in this episode:

- Juan Gabriel

- Morrissey

- The Smiths

- Alice Bag / The Bags

- Julio Iglesias

- Ricky Martin

- Rage Against the Machine / Zack de la Rocha

- Shakira

- Bad Bunny

- Ceshia Ubau

- Los Lobos

- Ritchie Valens

- CECI CECI

- Violeta Parra

- Víctor Jara

- Kacey Musgraves

- The Germs

- Tom WaitsFor Hispanic Heritage Month, we're talking about the ways music can shape our understanding of culture, identity and where we come from.

Jess grew up Nicaraguan American in a Spanish-speaking household, with Spanish-language music playing at family gatherings and on Saturday mornings. Tyler has Mexican heritage on his mother's side, but grew up largely disconnected from that culture after earlier generations of his family assimilated into American life. Music became one of the ways each of us connected — and reconnected — with those parts of ourselves. We talk about growing up between cultures, discovering music from Latin America as adults, artists who cross cultural and language barriers, and whether you need to share someone's background to find something meaningful in their music.Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:30 Music, culture & Hispanic Heritage Month

00:53 Growing up Nicaraguan American

05:50 Tyler’s Mexican heritage & assimilation

09:00 Shakira, Bad Bunny & crossing cultural boundaries

12:50 Discovering Nicaraguan artist Ceshia Ubau

14:24 Tyler’s picks: Los Lobos & Chicano music

16:46 Jess’s picks: CECI & new Nicaraguan music

18:50 Violeta Parra, Víctor Jara & Latin American folk music

21:30 Music, politics & cultural identity

23:49 Shakira makes the mix

25:30 Alice Bag, The Bags & Chicano punk

27:30 Final thoughts🎧 Listen to Play Record▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PlayRecordPodcast🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033DtFWQBaLPMiNYgykjdD?si=9c33ee347d174619🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/play-record-podcast/id6783468122🎙️ Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/63224d90-334e-4339-a7f8-bdcc7ddabe9f/play-record-podcast📱 Follow Play Record📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playrecordpod/🎤 About Play RecordPlay Record is a music podcast hosted by Jess and Tyler, where every episode starts with a theme and turns into stories, debates, nostalgia, and the songs that shaped our lives.Whether we're talking about mixtapes, guilty pleasures, forgotten albums, heartbreak songs, or the perfect soundtrack for a night swim, every episode celebrates the memories behind the music.❤️ If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and leave a comment. We'd love to hear your picks!🎵 What's on your playlist?#MusicPodcast #Playlists #Mixtapes #MusicLovers #NowPlaying

Tom Waits has new music. And somehow, his collaboration with Massive Attack feels both completely unexpected and like it was always supposed to happen.

On this edition of What’s on the Turntable, Tyler takes us through “Boots on the Ground” and “The Fly,” the new two-song release from Tom Waits and Massive Attack. We talk about why Massive Attack's dark, ominous sound fits so naturally around Waits, why the vinyl hits differently, and what it means to hear new Tom Waits music after such a long stretch without it.

We also get into the anger behind “Boots on the Ground,” the strange connection between the two tracks, Casey Waits' involvement, and why Tom's voice somehow seems to get more Tom Waits as he gets older.

What do you think of the Tom Waits/Massive Attack collaboration? And if you're a Tom Waits fan, where does “Boots on the Ground” fit for you?