I recently was on Youtube and was listening to a Curtis Mayfield tune called "Think" from the Superfly album and it bothered me that Beyonce remade think, into a song. I understand this is a practice that dates back to Ella Fitxgerald and other jazz vocalists, that turn instrumental works into songs, however, as much as I respect Ella Fitzgerald's chops and musicality of her voice, I'd rather listen to instrumental jazz over a songwriter co-opting music and mutilating it. Like when some jazz vocal group covered "Freddie Freeloader" and re-made it into a song. I don't mind if artists covered songs, but instrumentals should left as they are: just music.

Don't listen to it, problem solved.

bashraka said:

I recently was on Youtube and was listening to a Curtis Mayfield tune called "Think" from the Superfly album and it bothered me that Beyonce remade think, into a song. I understand this is a practice that dates back to Ella Fitxgerald and other jazz vocalists, that turn instrumental works into songs, however, as much as I respect Ella Fitzgerald's chops and musicality of her voice, I'd rather listen to instrumental jazz over a songwriter co-opting music and mutilating it. Like when some jazz vocal group covered "Freddie Freeloader" and re-made it into a song. I don't mind if artists covered songs, but instrumentals should left as they are: just music.

What was even more disturbing is that she used Shuggie Otis' "Rainy Day" as the background to her song "Gift From Virgo" from her debut album, Dangerously in Love.

bashraka said:

I recently was on Youtube and was listening to a Curtis Mayfield tune called "Think" from the Superfly album and it bothered me that Beyonce remade think, into a song. I understand this is a practice that dates back to Ella Fitxgerald and other jazz vocalists, that turn instrumental works into songs, however, as much as I respect Ella Fitzgerald's chops and musicality of her voice, I'd rather listen to instrumental jazz over a songwriter co-opting music and mutilating it. Like when some jazz vocal group covered "Freddie Freeloader" and re-made it into a song. I don't mind if artists covered songs, but instrumentals should left as they are: just music.

But jazz artists, particularly those in the post-swing/bop era, commonly covered songs with lyrics (those of Cole Porter come to mind). So Ella wasn't always performing a vocal rendition of an instrumental, she was often (if not mostly) performing the song with lyrics, as it was intended to be performed.

I'm actually an entusiast of this trend

in 2008, while recording my album ...In Earcandy

for fun, I sang over Patrice Rushen's "Puttered Bopcorn"

and created "Running Away (Demo)"

Erykah Badu turned this:

into "Agitation" and I LOVE IT!!!

I'm not as fond of her version of

RAMP's "The American Promise"

but I thought it was a cool nod

to an UNSUNG group

that I knew little about at the time

I happen to like Beyonce's "Gift From Virgo" &

it also blew my mind that her & Jazmine Sullivan basically

stole the "Think" instrumental for "Resentment"

I plan on doing another "re-creation" for my new project