I just heard Natalie Imbruglia’s version of Torn on the radio at work, and I was reminded of the controversy this song caused (mainly amongst Matt) when it first came out in 1998. Most of you have probably heard this song. But how many of you know it’s a cover?

YES! The band Ednaswap originally wrote and released the song in 1995. They’ve recorded a couple different versions of it, but for some reason, when Natalie Imbruglia released her version, no one ever acknowledged that it was a cover. This got under the skin of Matt, because he was a fan of Ednaswap and thought that Natalie Imbruglia shouldn’t be getting the credit for a song she didn’t write. Ironically enough, there is one line that appears in her version that doesn’t appear in the original version, and that line is “my inspiration has run dry”. Indeed.

If MTV, VH1, or any of the thousands of radio stations had acknowledged that it was a cover, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. But they all were part of the grand conspiracy. Some of us know better, though.

And here’s hoping Natalie Imbruglia gets what’s coming to her.

Tags: 90s music, controversy, cover, cover of torn, ednaswap, ednaswap cover, grand conspiracy, instant karma, mtv, my inspiration has run dry, natalie imbruglia, natalie imbruglia covers ednaswap, torn, vh1