"Different interpretations and meanings. Songs aren't monolithic, at least the good ones aren't. What Leona Lewis has done has touched hearts."....(Gary Lightbody)

For me, this trumps Yoko Ono's rating Jahmene's version of "Imagine," ..now, if the great man had reached down from above and given it his seal? :O)

I agree, Leona's version is stunning and one of those few occasions where I prefer a cover version to the original..
I remember it stopping a crowd of people in a T.V. store the first time I ever saw it on video..parts of it are jaw dropping with the intensity she brings to it..

As for Union J, well they're an average boy-band we shouldn't expect, nor did we get, miracles!

Rich.
x

I really enjoyed union j's version of run

I liked Snow Patrol's original version, but I love Leona's version of it.

I'm not one to say any song should never be revisited, but I've yet to hear a cover of Run and feel that it was worth doing.

Does seem to divide opinions rather, doesn't it?

Lol! Oh dear.........

There are very few songs where the cover improves on the original in every way, but Run is one of them. I quite like Snow Patrol (well, some of their stuff) and I'm definitely not a Leona stan, but when she performed Run on the XF, it was one of the great performances of our time. I fail to see how anyone can call it a poor version of the song. The intensity she brings to it blows my mind, and it's one of my most played songs in iTunes. Sometimes, people need to stop being so precious about music. Gary Lightbody clearly approved (and reaped the financial benefits) so why shouldn't everyone else?

I didn't think Union J did a bad version of it, but there's nowhere else to take the song after Leona's version. Still, it was their best sing-off by miles (which is not really saying much...)

Who cares, it's the 1st coverage Snow Patrol have had on mainstream TV for years and they'll shift a few copies on iTunes as a result, also it's not that good a song anyway.

I thought Union J's version was alright, people complain over the smallest of things

I am guilty of being a snow patrol fan and really hate when anyone else does their songs but oh well ........





It's not the end of the world

Oh honey, you'd love my version of Set The Fire To The Third Bar that I do in the shower.

I find the map and draw a straight line
Over rivers, farms, and state lines
The distance from here to where you'd be
It's only finger-lengths that I see


ahem interesting lyrics while in the shower lol

What can I say, showering is an emotional experience for me.

Yes! Leona destroyed it. I prefer unionj's version to hers.

No the song is not hers and never will be. She didn't write it nor did she release it first the original song writers did so its their song and hers is merely a tacky cover.

Great performances of our time - good god you have got to be joking! All that fake emotion oh and lets not forget the obligatory Cowell choir LOL.

Let's face it, the general public remember her version a lot more than they do the original. The fact that you think it's a 'tacky' cover shows how biased you are. Believe it or not, it is possible for an artist to do a song better than the original, particularly when the original is an indie-ballad by numbers.


Stay pressed. That performance has gone down in XF history; show me a version of Snow Patrol doing it that people have raved and raved about. What's that? You can't? Hmm.

As I said before, I'm no Leona stan, but credit where it's due, her version is definitive, and Snow Patrol are obviously grateful to her for doing it so well.

It is irrelevant who's version is remembered a lot more or whether you or I agree on whose version is best my point was the song is not hers and never will be she is merely someone who covered the song.

Yes I am well aware that on occasion covers can be better than the original. Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah is generally recognized as the definitive version - however it still doesn't make it his song.


Whilst I agree the performance has certainly gone down in XF history as apparently a great performance it doesn't make it the greatest performance of a generation. Performances such as Queen at Live Aid or Jimmi Hendrix at Isle of Wight - they are generation performances not Leona of the XF.

Both versions of Run are good, Snow Patrol's has the stripped back quality it needs, and Leona's version is moving, she sings it very well But somehow I felt when UJ sang it, it was less moving. Didnt work for me The soaring chorus and key change were definitely inappropriate for a song about the singers wife/girlfriend in some constant pain, and only having a few days to live
Apart from that, their version was all right

If someone covers a song to the extent that the song is better remembered than the original, then I would say that it is that artist's song in all but credit only. There's no point being precious over things like this. Did Union J have Snow Patrol's version in mind, or Leona's version in mind, when they covered it? Who knows, but given their collective age, and their apparent musical leanings, I'm putting my money on Leona. And if that's the case, it WAS her song they (apparently) ruined. A song is just a song. Once an artist agrees for it to be covered, they're giving permission for someone else to 'make the song their own'. A cliche, yes, but true. Sometimes it doesn't work (Stooshe doing Waterfalls being a recent example) and sometimes it does, and for Leona, she covered it in such a way that the song became hers. Does that mean the song doesn't belong to Snow Patrol anymore? No. It's possible, you know, for a song to belong to more than one person. We're not talking writing credits here. We're talking about genuine connection and emotion with the song. So just as Hallelujah belongs to Jeff Buckley AND Leonard Cohen, and just as Hurt belongs to Nine Inch Nails AND Johnny Cash, Run belongs to Snow Patrol AND Leona Lewis. If Gary Lightbody didn't agree, he wouldn't have given her permission to use it.

And LOL at your examples of generational live performances. I said this generation, honey! Bless you for wheeling out a performance older than Leona Lewis herself.

Lol, Leona fans. The only people on the planet more deluded than Beliebers.

Lol, people who can't read beyond the points they want to argue. I've said at least twice that I'm not a Leona fan. I find her as dull as dishwater. She is, however, still infinitely LESS dull than Snow Patrol collectively as a band, and her version of Run is excellent. People really hate it when indie bands are not exalted to the highest degree, don't they?

I agree. Snow Patrol are terminally dull. In comparison, LL's version is a work of art.

Sorry got to disagree whose version of any song is better is subjective. A cover version doesn't change the ownership of the song it is simply a cover version.

No idea about Union J haven't seen the performance - but agree they were most likely inspired by Leona's cover.

Gary Lightbody had no say - as long as royalties are paid anyone can cover a song.

The examples I gave yep they were old - couldn't think of anything recent that could be considered a generational defining performance. Maybe we have a different definition of that but honestly I can't see how a performance on the XF could in anyway be described as you did - sure it sold tons in the UK probably off the back of that performance but it didn't go viral and become a mega world wide hit - even Susan Boyle achieved that.

Agee.

Leona as no personality. In no way can she add to Snow Patrol version,

http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrit...aloney-1457752

You're taking the word 'own' too literally. I'm using it in the hearts and minds sense. You're using it in a purely technical sense. I've addressed that already.

Gary Lightbody might not have had a say in terms of Leona recording it, but he certainly had his say in subsequent interviews - one of which has been posted in this thread.

Like it or not, in the UK, the majority of popular music fans have been weaned on the XF. We are the XF generation. Leona's performance was seminal for the XF. Of course it's all subjective, and I have no idea why it didn't go worldwide viral, but it did pretty well worldwide, from what I can remember. The fact that you say that no performance on the XF can be considered generational again shows your bias. You don't think anything of substance can come from the XF, I get it. But that doesn't make either you or I correct. It's just opinion that people give on here, nothing more.