The song …
Shake It Off is a Taylor Swift cover by American singer-songwriter Ryan Adams.
To mark the one-year anniversary of Taylor Swift's single Shake It Off, Ryan Adams released the version that is so musically different from the original.
The Ryan Adams' cover version has added to the history of the song Shake It Off with a distinctive and timeless version and should not go unmentioned and unheard when talking about the song itself.
Ryan Adams' version of Shake It Off appeared as the sixth track on his 1989 album. By the way, Ryan Adams has completely covered the whole Taylor Swift album 1989, that means every single song from it.
'Shake It Off' Cover by Ryan Adams
Some musical ingredients Ryan Adams revealed
Ryan Adams revealed to Rolling Stone in September 2015 how the Sonic Youth album Evol, Bruce Springsteen and the film Eddie and the Cruisers influenced the musical arrangements for his cover of Shake It Off:
“I thought, ‘Man, if “Shake It Off” was set with a sort of Sonic Youth Evol vibe mixed with some Springsteen or Eddie and the Cruisers vibe, it could be really dark, in a great way.”[1]
No word repetitions in lyrics of cover
The cover's lyrics are basically the same as the original, except Adams leaves out repeated words (five times repeated) Taylor Swift sings. Some examples:
- ... gonna play, play, play, play, play ... becomes ... gonna play ...
- ... gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate ... becomes ... gonna hate ...
- ... gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake ... becomes ... gonna shake
'Shake It Off' Original by Taylor Swift
For comparison, the original song by Taylor Swift.
References
[1] Browne, D. (2015, September 21). Ryan Adams on His Full-Album Taylor Swift Cover: ‘You Just Have to Mean It’. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/ryan-adams-on-his-full-album-taylor-swift-cover-you-just-have-to-mean-it-59783/3/