Unlike other blatantly tragic musicals, Cabaret is a show filled with dark humor, exciting stories, and a dash of deep dark thematic interplay. The final song of the show, “Cabaret”, is one that shows a complicated decision being made by the character singing.
It is thought that, during this song, the character makes the choice to get an abortion and stay at the cabaret instead of settling down with a guy from America and having a baby. It is,while superficially fun, a pretty deep song.
I am of the opinion that Dee Snider should have tried to portray the secretive, heavy nature of this song that lurks beneath the fun superficial layer of having fun at the cabaret. The way Dee covers it, this song is so wildly exciting that it sort of rips through you like a whirlwind of hair band vocals and 80’s guitar solos.
I have to hand it to him though; Dee definitely has the pipes for this song. He can belt it better than I thought he would be able to. There were als otrumpets and possibly a sax or two incorporated which added a slight element of the actual origin of the song. This doesn’t change the fact that “Cabaret” should not be covered the way he did it.
Usually when an artist covers a song from a genre very different from their own, the cover has the same basic instrumental sound but with the covering artist’s own style. I saw no evidence of that in this tragic cover. The intro music sounds like it has nothing to do with “Cabaret” and the same goes for the annoying guitar solo at the end of the song.
Judging by his cover of “Cabaret”,the whole album (Dee Does Broadway,set to release May 8th), will not be a musical masterpiece. I can only hope that none of his tragic covers end up on the radio or, God forbid,become popular amongst the masses.