Peferred Original or Re-vamped version

As time goes by, age often sees those of mature age saying; when listening to a ssong - "I remember the original"
Are the original always, or ever the best?
Are do the newer/later versions offer a diffferent perspective ?
  • Posting Old v New what is your preferred choice? - Or do you like both ?
 

I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You - Hank Williams, 1951




I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You - Isaac Hayes, 1973



In my view, there's no comparison. I would choose the Hayes version any day.
 
I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW
~ Tommy james and the shondells (1967)

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~ Tiffany (1987)
  • For me - I prefer the ORIGINAL
I think it depends on your age at the time of the release in many cases... I was just a child when the original came out so I wasn't aware of it... whereas Tiffany's version came out when I was about 32.. it was the first time I'd heard it..so I prefer her version
 
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These were hits during my teen and later years so I like them all...

If not for you - original,

Bob Dylan.....


If not for you - George Harrison --- cover


if not for you - Olivia Newton John... cover


 
I usually prefer the original artists.

However, I agree with songwriter/musician Gordon Lightfoot, when it comes to Kris Kristofferson's iconic "Me and Bobby McGee". He said when he heard Janis Joplin's version, "...chills went up and down my spine" at how poignantly she sang that song. It was released posthumously on her "Pearl" album.

Kristofferson himself agreed:
What did Kris Kristofferson think of Janis Joplin's version of "Me and Bobby McGee"?
He was deeply affected by it. They had been lovers, and he first heard her version of the song just a few weeks after her death.

What a lot of people don’t know is that Kristofferson did not write it as the wistful, somewhat melancholy love song most people think of it as - it had a dark, tragic undertone in Kristofferson’s mind. His inspiration for the song was the Fellini film La Strada, in which Anthony Quinn’s character goes mad with grief after learning that the girl he had abandoned while traveling together had died.

To this day, Kristofferson can’t sing it without thinking of Joplin. I saw him do it at the Ryman in Nashville in 2013, and had a really good seat. When he sang that song, I swear he was on the verge of crying. He had this to say in an interview in 2015 -

“The first time I heard Janis Joplin’s version was right after she died. Paul Rothchild, her producer, asked me to stop by his office and listen to this thing she had cut. Afterwards, I walked all over L.A., just in tears. I couldn’t listen to the song without really breaking up. So when I came back to Nashville, I went into the Combine [Publishing] building late at night, and I played it over and over again, so I could get used to it without breaking up.”


[this was posted on Quora, so sincere thanks to contributor Mark Holtz for this background info, which I didn't know until I googled Janis' version]
 

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