Best version of Walk On By

This promo is amazing :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0EA7a5LqDg

Isaac. The full 12-minute extravaganza, especially 4:32-5:10.

the stranglers, obviously

Dionne by miles and miles you savages

tho the Isaac Hayes version is the only acceptable alternative tbf

I'm not sure, I'll have to think about it while I take a stroll through the TREES!

Dionne by miles and miles you savages

― life went on, sadly (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, April 10, 2013 8:44 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the stranglers, obviously

― nostormo, Wednesday, April 10, 2013 10:40 AM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^

ike

Dionne by miles and miles you savages

^^^^^

smith & mighty http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif

Ike.

Though I prefer his 'By The Time I Get To Phoenix'.

Can't beat the original, what a perfect song. Props to Isaac as well though.

xp Love Smith & Mighty's version

I have a K-tel "28 Amazing hits" with an incredible live Dionne version. Sounds like it's in a small theatre, and the crowd sings the chorus - turns it into this whole call-and-response thing that's just jaw-dropping.

I think the only other one I know is Issac Hayes'--it's fine. Maybe there's a great version among the others. But the original is perfect.

Realized I know Sybil's, too, and I liked that.

the Beach Boys rendition i've heard - a very incomplete outtake missing some vocals and later verses from the 20/20 sessions - has some amazing vocal flourishes after the "I break down and cry" line. Is there a more complete version of this floating around somewhere?

george benson!

but seriously, marie dionne warrick, cmon

I'm with the "Stranglers obviously" crew. It was two fingers up to both the establishment and any expectations their fans had.

It was basically a cover version of "Light My Fire", except it was "Walk On By".

Well, kinda but no.

the Beach Boys rendition i've heard - a very incomplete outtake missing some vocals and later verses from the 20/20 sessions - has some amazing vocal flourishes after the "I break down and cry" line. Is there a more complete version of this floating around somewhere?

― Lee626, Wednesday, April 10, 2013 3:05 PM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark

there are rehearsal takes available on some bootlegs but nothing much longer than a minute sadly

The Stranglers realised what no-one else did, which is that the original was great but would have been even better with a 5 minute keyboard solo.

This works pretty well actually :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TirTq9hKbk8

D Train
D Train
D Train

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnwtYxccwMw

mit iodine!

This is another goodie :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxekiaRdhNo

ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike ike

I have never heard the Stranglers version but if it means voting for a fucking stranglers song as being superior to Walk On By by Dionne Warwick then I'd rather die ignorant

Beach Boys version is just a fragment but damn is it beautiful. voting that

also missing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cOKgZfzURY

sum1 post the beach boys

dionne tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y_SAlKF-vk

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I'd take a bullet for Dionne, some of these other versions are nice but c'mon

dionne very very very obviously.

but i do really like this version by richard x with the singer from the flying lizards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFSkDUlQz1M

ty matt 4 the vid its incredible

Isaac Hayes all the way. D-Train would probably be my second choice.

Love this 2-step cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgfNmvEg9Go

dionne 4ever

even that fragmented Beach Boys rendition inspired this v. nice cover based on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkbvVSi18Ns

Dionne by miles and miles you savages

otm

this really only deserves to be a two-way poll btw Hayes and Dionne

I have never heard the Stranglers version but if it means voting for a fucking stranglers song as being superior to Walk On By by Dionne Warwick then I'd rather die ignorant

― schlump, Wednesday, April 10, 2013 7:37 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

booming post

goddamn there's some tin eared motherfuckers in here. how is this even a question?

I pick dionne but I don't think I would want to live without the isaac hayes version existing too

beach boy fragment is beautiful and props to Isaac but it's Dionne

buzza

i like the version by donna taylor on that o'rourke produced bacharach tribute alb

voted for i hayes

just checked out cyndi lauper version. surprisingly solid.

lol

"how surprising that this great singer did a good version of a singer's song"

I don't know anything about the Stranglers but watching that video, it just seems so noncommittal. I would assume that a band who could write a song as beautiful as Golden Brown genuinely loves the original Walk On By. But it looks like they felt like they had to approach it with some ironic distance. They didn't do it in a full on Sid Vicious "My Way" sense though, and it doesn't come across as a genuine tribute like the Ramones doing Needles & Pins. It just seems really halfhearted.

I guess I hadn't realized how good her voice was, mostly knowing her from a few hits where she sang in a very affected way, xp

stranglers version just sounds like punk band doing lol punk cover of what might as well be any song

― --808 542137 (Hurting 2), Thursday, April 11, 2013 6:33 PM (35 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There is no other '70s punk band that would have pulled off a cover of 'Walk On By' in the same way.

a singularity of dubious worth

Nah.

you mean because they could actually figure out the chords?

i'm not sure what was meant by dionne having an affected style, just cuz that word can have very different meanings so i will just say, tks to ― you left your keys in the door (Matt #2),for that promo video as i'd never seen it and loved it

lol whut I was talking about Cyndi

lol

"how surprising that this great singer did a good version of a singer's song"

That Cal Tjader version is really sweet. Also missing: live version by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

Unfortunately this formula has been known to go wrong upon occasion

I don't dispute this, but I would argue (not very strongly) that a good singer + a good song is more likely to succeed than fail, to the point where it is more notable when the failures occur than the successes

sounds like a poll

Grant Green version is decent too

Went for Isaac Hayes, "who the fuck is this, paging me at 5:46 in the morning"

Two musicians who deserves kudos on this thread are Harold Beane, the lead guitarist on the Isaac Hayes version ( he also played on Funkadelic's America Eats Its Young ), and legendary session man Paul Griffin, who played the signature piano part on the Dionne version, as well as putting his stamp on a gazillion other records: http://www.steelydan.com/griffin.html

i've got a half-remembered version in my head that's killing me. its a male singer, with a very clear voice over a syrupy arrangement, and he's got a certain quaver in the "byayayay" part that's not obnoxious at all. No idea. I think it might be Bacharach himself, but can't find any record of this online.

In defence of The Stranglers : you might think they substituted the pained yearning of the original with snarling, cynical punk attitude. But really they're expressing the crippled emotions of a man trapped by his inability to come to terms with his feelings. Which is what all their songs are about anyway!

Don't hate The Stranglers and don't mind the part where they are actually playing the tune, but the four minute bass improv is the kind of thing that is often more fun for somebody to play than for somebody else to listen to.

for a second I thought the Stranglers had transformed the song into an angry "don't cross my path cuz I'll fuck you up" type song, but the lyrics don't really work for that

legendary session man Paul Griffin
yeah the piano on the dionne version is one of the best things ever.

Don't hate The Stranglers and don't mind the part where they are actually playing the tune, but the four minute bass improv is the kind of thing that is often more fun for somebody to play than for somebody else to listen to.

I just listened to the whole thing for the first time and completely disagree. I couldn't get more than 30 seconds into it before because of how badly they butchered the song, but the Doors feat. Chris Squire workout in the middle is cool. and then toward the end they veer into some marquee moon territory. now I see why people like it.

Not a massive fan of the pub rock plodders The Stranglers, but their version is my favourite - would be better without the shitty Doors noodle.

Thanks for the tune Burt

fact according to some net diggin :

the stranglers released the album which featured their version of this classic, black and white, on a freebie 7" on burts birthday ..

now that's f*cking cool ...

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

Fair reflection on... whaidaminnit, RonanKeating?

Just heard Hooverphonic song that samples Isaac Hayes version for the first time.

that warwick promo is a little crepey imo

Ronan Keating 4

Never change, ILM

I'd like to think those 4 people were not being ironic.

those 4 less ridiculous than votes for the Stranglers

this version, like the album its from, doesn't really work tbh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3gl5BHe5Pg

Replacing broken link of Skip Pitts reproducing Harold Beane's iconic sound at Montreux.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwiljw

Although that link was actually on this thread: Shaft v Son of shaft.

Honourable Mention: Richard X feat. Deborah Evans-Stickland (from The Flying Lizards)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFSkDUlQz1M

The Dionne version is 'the' version as it has the Bacharach arrangement but that damaged fuzz guitar on the Isaac Hayes take is just f'n awesome.

Just heard Hooverphonic song that samples Isaac Hayes version for the first time.

the isaac hayes version is the greatest song in the history of the 20th century imo, it is ok to be second to it

(i love the dionne version ofc!)

otm, the dionne version is great but isaacs version goes off like a nuclear bomb, nothing even comes close

Might as well finally post the video of Hooverphonic's "2 WIcky" for those who haven't heard it yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dppcuKJrqbE

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned that the Carpenters do this (with Richard singing lead) in the Bacharach medley on their 1971 album. It might be the fastest version, even more than the Stranglers.

Ha, I am surprised, but now that you say it, it makes some sense.

Don't know what to say about that medley.

Maybe think of it in light of their previous history as an amusement park entertainment.

Oh! Now that really makes perfect sense, thanks.

don't. stop.
don't. stop.
don't. stop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcKAIliM7A0