This has likely been done before, but if so I guess these can be merged?

The original version of this song is so frantic and overwrought, and Tiffany's version is the definition of ear-bleeding.

I actually sort of enjoy this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvMM72RFfv8

Ah I love Girls Aloud. There are two versions--the album mix and the vastly different single mix.

There was an era in the '60s when covers were de rigeur. I came to know a few Beatles classics via Shirley Bassey. And as Dame Shirley would tell you, doing covers wasn't frowned upon, but embraced. Folks celebrated the unique spins on what would later become pop classics.

Often I don't think you could even call them covers. The music industry worked differently and several people could buy and record the same song at the same time. Also the UK and US would often get simultaneous releases by local singers. Dionne Warwick used to throw shade at Bacharach when a song she thought was for her would get released first by Dusty, or Jackie, or whoever--but many ofher big Bacharach hits (Always Something There to Remind Me for instance) were recorded over a year before by others.

I'm resisting the urge to make one of those obnoxious sweeping statements, such as, "Whitney Houston PWNS this thread!", but she was pretty damn great at covers. The Greatest Love of All and Saving All My Love For You immediately come to mind, but I don't think I Will Always Love You or I'm Every Woman were necessarily "better" rather than more iconic.

I loveher cover of All The Man I Need--which was recorded earlier by Sister Sledge and Linda Clifford.

Eric, YOU liking a religious song? ;-P

You're very right about many of those songs hardly being "covers" back then. Her name is on the tip of my tongue, British, kind of looks like a beaver, but Dionne wrote about her disdain for this singer making one of her songs a hit in the UK when her own version got only a mediocre reception in the U.S.

Cilla Black!

Cilla Black always seems to be on the "difficult celebrities/bad fan encounters" lists at forums.

(then again Dionne might be too, I don't know)

Aretha covers that are the best.

There's no better example, IMO, of one singer coming in and straight up owning another's song than this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObjLb6ElTvs

And Prince fans are still pissed.

I'm annoyed because my phone won't let me see what videos you all are posting.

I prefer Cleo Laine's covers of Bread's If to the original. John Williams' beautiful classical guitar playing on one, and then her Muppet Show performance.

AMS, you mentioned Prince. Jimmy Scott's cover of Nothing Compares 2U which Prince wrote for Sinead is so hauntingly beautiful, probably one of the greatest covers ever.

My Prince mention was in relation to Chaka's "I Feel for You."

Eric, YOU liking a religious song? ;-P

You're very right about many of those songs hardly being "covers" back then. Her name is on the tip of my tongue, British, kind of looks like a beaver, but Dionne wrote about her disdain for this singer making one of her songs a hit in the UK when her own version got only a mediocre reception in the U.S.

Cilla Black!

Ha, It wasn't originally a religious song, and I choose not to think of it that way (Hey I've done it before--many of Donna Summer's later songs have an obvious religious reading to them but I just take them literally ).

Yes, that was just when Dionne was starting to get a slight reputation--though nothing like now. She also blamed Bacharach for offering What The World Needs Now first to her, her turning it down, and then Jackie DeShannon making it a hit. She claims the version Bacharach gave her was country tinged (like the Gene Pitney stuff and Raindrops Keep Falling that he was having hits with) and that he then used the "Dionne Warwick" formula when he tgave the song to Jackie DeShannon.

Speaking of--Jackie wrote and sang Bette Davis Eyes first, but I prefer the famous cover.

Cilla Black always seems to be on the "difficult celebrities/bad fan encounters" lists at forums.

(then again Dionne might be too, I don't know)

Aretha covers that are the best.

I admit, I much prefer Dionne's Say a little Prayer--but fans are always divided and I believe both charted equally.

This has likely been done before, but if so I guess these can be merged?

The original version of this song is so frantic and overwrought, and Tiffany's version is the definition of ear-bleeding.

I actually sort of enjoy this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvMM72RFfv8

They sang that song when I went to see them in concert. I loved Girls Aloud.

I love the Billy Joel version of Just the Way You Are, but in some ways prefer Lesley Ann Warren's cover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDUWQ9x9op0

Edited October 11, 201312 yr by DRW50

There's a YouTube vid from Solid Gold maybe of Dionne and Aretha's duet of Say a Little Prayer. Of course commenters always in search of "shade" pick it apart saying their little hug at the end is "fake ass" and that the ladies really hate each other blah blah but it's a very nice duet. There's also an amateur vid of Cissy singing it at a tribute for her niece.

I think the song Dionne references in that piece I read re: Cilla is Going Out of My Head. Diahann Carroll also did a nice cover of it.

ETA: My bad, it was Anyone Who Had a Heart. Diahann, you're still good though.

Edited October 11, 201312 yr by SFK

I have to put a vote in for British duo Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin's version of The Locomotion. It's probably the least well-known version of the song, but it may actually be the best version of all (although I love Kylie's version, too, and even Grand Funk Railroad's version is ridiculously catchy):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpQY0fA0cec

Edited October 11, 201312 yr by MissLlanviewPA

In my opinion vastly superior to Marvin Gaye's original version.

I'm having some trouble getting my YT clips to show up again. What do I do to get them to show up instead of just show the link? Thanks!

The video is cheesy, but this version of the song is much better than the Bee Gees' version. The falsetto singing in that one is horrible.