Best Version Of "I Say A Little Prayer"

Warwick(e). Now if this were "April Fools" I'd have some soul-searching to do (oh what am I saying...it's Aretha for that one...wait, is it?).

Hey, she disowned that extra "e"!

I'm her numerologist; I told her to readd it after that Spanish album tanked.

i like Jackie Leven's.

The Mentors did a slavishly puerile version of it, replete with lyrics about bestiality and coprophagia.

No, they didn't. Although I wish they did.

As that would be the one I'd vote for.

For what it's worth, the Stranglers' version of "Walk On By" shits all over Dionne's.

I am tempted to vote for the original, because I tend to prefer the original. But Dionne Warwick wasn't the writer anyway, and Aretha Franklin did some amazing stuff with this particular song even if I generally find most of her other stuff overrated.

Burt Bacharach would have deserved my vote the most though, as he is the one who created it after all.

Alex in NYC = Zaragon? ;)

i like Jackie Leven's.
Is Ian Rankin on that?

i don't think so. it predates their work together.

I went with Dionne Warwick's, but I wanted to say that I really like Gene's version too.

aretha

Aretha - Dionne's been more consistent over her career but Aretha's high points are higher. And this is one of her high points.

I like Aretha's version pretty well but it's Warwick all the way: she owns it. Her rendition of it is also sort of the ultimate anti-Hongro codex Bacharach couldn't do a version that would have half the nuance of hers, because singing is a creative musical act as surely as composing is.

But people've been trying to explain this to Geir for at least twelve years now and he still doesn't understand it so what is the point.

j0hn it's clearly because Dionne 'changed the notes'....

For me it's Aretha by a country mile, not only for her vocal, but for the way Purdie changes up the drums going into the chorus.

Jackie Leven

Don't really know from that guy. I think I got a flexidisc single on his old band with a Trouser Press many years ago.

It has got to be Bomb the Bass featuring Maureen.

http://www.mediafire.com/?dnrjdaiybrp

This song might be in more romantic comedy trailers then "there she goes"

gotta go w/ aretha here!

Looks like I didn't know about the Glen Campbell/Anne Murray medley either.

Nor the Diana King version, never having heard of her before last weekend.

aretha!

Aretha. But I really wish I could vote for Aretha AND Warwick AND Al Green.

me and Euler are proper indie kids. Gene!

Gene! I saw them do it live at Glastonbury and Martin Rossiter fell over a monitor in the middle of it. That'd have to be my fave version.

"I am tempted to vote for the original, because I tend to prefer the original"

I love this. what a fantastic koan. my head is spinning.

The Ms. Warwick version is no doubt the classic rendition, but you have to give Roland Kirk his props for taking a mighty fine swing at it.

that just reminded me of another (awesome) version: Ground Zero's Plays Standards take on Kirk's.

No point being contrarian for its own sake; Aretha gets my vote.

Aretha's version is my favourite record, full stop.

ive been hearing this SO MUCH for the past four months, and i mean, its been a really nice time in my life.

I quite like the Diana King version, but I gotta go for Roland Kirk. (Btw, he wasn't yet "Rahsaan" on that record.)

Oh, Diana King wasn't even an option. I guess it makes it so much easier.

Aretha, hands down.

<blasphemy>
I actually didn't much care for the song until I heard her rendition of it, which I adore.
</blasphemy>

It has got to be Bomb the Bass featuring Maureen.

This was the first version I ever heard.

i had to go with "other" for wayne brady's version on the chappelle show just before he broke the cop's neck. classic.

JOhnD said it above:

I like Aretha's version pretty well but it's Warwick all the way: she owns it. Her rendition of it is also sort of the ultimate anti-Hongro codex Bacharach couldn't do a version that would have half the nuance of hers, because singing is a creative musical act as surely as composing is.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

You guys can play the Geir card all you want, but the Dionne version is way too genteel. It just sounds like an ad for Coffee Break Time- which is fine I guess- but Aretha takes it up to the next levels.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Wow, I guess I need to hear this Aretha version.

I shoulda voted for Al. His version is great, he deserved a vote.

You guys can play the Geir card all you want, but the Dionne version is way too genteel. It just sounds like an ad for Coffee Break Time- which is fine I guess- but Aretha takes it up to the next levels.

This is so wrong. The Warwick version fits the tone of the lyrics: someone continually pulled back to the thought of her beloved all day. It's almost happening semi-consciously, like an automatic reflex. The Aretha Franklin version is fine, but the Warwick version is definitive. The quiet obsessiveness of it is perfect.

i don't get it. aretha never actually sings the entire line "i say a little prayer for you". the backup singers do it for her. likewise the chorus. if losing the guy would actually mean heartbreak for her, why doesn't she ever sing it?

Yes, even though she soulfully ad libs and adds "Nobody but me" at the end of "would only mean heartbreak for me."

I was just listening to the Aretha version earlier and thinking the chorus steals the show.

right. aretha's version of the chorus is great. but i don't believe she actually feels what she's singing. dionne's version sounds like she this emotion every day.

i mean:
...she lives this emotion...

"You never this emotion!"

(Don't worry if that doesn't make sense, it's not directed at you, just an allusion to an old meme.)

Al Green really should have gotten a vote.

This thread should have been subtitled TS Gary Chester vs. Bernard Purdie.

Dionne once said that she imagined it was about a girl thinking about her guy who's stationed in Vietnam.

Sorry Gary, Bernard beat you this time.

Dionne version also docked for cheesy Tijuana Brass trumpet licks.

Although to be fair, I actually like it fine, just not as much as the other version.

Look even on the Brill Building Myspace Page they picked the Aretha version.

Man, hope Roger Hawkins forgives me for misattributing his great drumming on this track for so long, so many times.

Must have missed this at the time--surely would've voted. Dionne Warwick's version is a 9.0, Aretha's a perfect 10.0. I did a college-radio Top 100 in 1989 and had it as my fourth-favourite song ever, just ahead of "Dizzy."

I feel bad forAlGreen

Is this the only poll he could come out with 0?

Gah, this is the best song ever.