Different versions of a song...

When several people do the same song, do you find it hard to decide one particular version you like better than the others?

Like, The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia...it's been done by Vicki Lawrence, Reba McEntire, Tanya Tucker...Vickie and Reba's versions are about the same but since Tanya's version was for the movie it was an entirely different song, but I think they're all great.


Or like Stagger Lee...a song that's been redone many times, but Lloyd Price's version is the classic...but he did two versions. One in which the song's about a murder over a dice game, and then the cleaned up version he had to do to perform on American Bandstand where instead the two guys get into a fight over a woman...now I like the more 'violent' lyrics however the Bandstand version has a faster beat and more coherent music from the horns and drums, so for those reasons, I really prefer the 'clean' version of the song.

Or take a song like The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde, Merle Haggard and Tammy Wynette both did excellent versions of it, you can't really pick one over the other.


How about everybody else? What are songs that have been done time and time again, and do you prefer one version over the others or do you think they're all good?

Supernova wrote:When several people do the same song, do you find it hard to decide one particular version you like better than the others?

Like, The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia...it's been done by Vicki Lawrence, Reba McEntire, Tanya Tucker...Vickie and Reba's versions are about the same but since Tanya's version was for the movie it was an entirely different song, but I think they're all great.


Or like Stagger Lee...a song that's been redone many times, but Lloyd Price's version is the classic...but he did two versions. One in which the song's about a murder over a dice game, and then the cleaned up version he had to do to perform on American Bandstand where instead the two guys get into a fight over a woman...now I like the more 'violent' lyrics however the Bandstand version has a faster beat and more coherent music from the horns and drums, so for those reasons, I really prefer the 'clean' version of the song.

Or take a song like The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde, Merle Haggard and Tammy Wynette both did excellent versions of it, you can't really pick one over the other.


How about everybody else? What are songs that have been done time and time again, and do you prefer one version over the others or do you think they're all good?

Sometimes the re-makes are better than the originals too. I know the song you are talking about Stagger Lee, I didn't know there were two versions of it.

Harold Melvin originally did Don't leave me this way but Thelma Houston's version blows that one out of the water.

Do you think Dolly Parton's version of "I will always Love you" is good or Whitney's version which I think was much better.

Boogie woogie bugle boy -Andrew Sisters Remade by Bette Midler

Over the Rainbow has been re-made several times but yet Judy Garland's version stands the best.

Elvis Presley's Always on My mind was remade by a lot of people but I like the Pet Shop Boys version best.

Other songs that have been remade by other artists:

Nat King Cole's Unforgettable
Debbie Boone's You Light up my live
TeAmo
The Power of Love
Last Kiss
Time After Time

I could go on but I will let others add to the list if they want to.

I like Celine Dion's version of "If You Asked Me To" slightly better than Patti LaBelle's.

I tend to like the versions of songs that my fav bands do best!