Who Did The Best Version of "Dancing In The Street"? - Opinions Sought

3/02/12

[MplsSteve]

OK, I just got done watching my alma mater win the McNaughton Cup in college hockey. Now I have a musical question for you.

Regarding the song "Dancing In The Street", who did the best version? Fingers crossed, I hope I linked these properly...

Martha And The Vandellas (1964) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdvITn5cAVc

Mick Jagger/David Bowie (1985) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y-x2fWKbmo

Van Halen (1982) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5qT2C_Ggpg

Or if there's a version that I missed, let me know.

[CaptainK]

Martha

[SuzyQue]

Little Eva.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

Van Halen.

[SuzyQue]

“Born Eva Narcissus Boyd in Belhaven, North Carolina, she moved to the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York at a young age. As a teenager, she worked as a maid and earned extra money as a babysitter for songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Amused by Boyd’s individual dancing style, they wrote “The Loco-Motion” for her and had her record it as a demo (the record was intended for Dee Dee Sharp). Music producer Don Kirshner was impressed by the song and Boyd’s voice and had it released just the way it was. The song became an instant smash, reaching #1 in the US in 1962.”
http://www.last.fm/music/Little+Eva

[Amberdawn]

Van Halen, hands down.

[wontbackdown]

Martha and the Vandellas

[decal]

Me, in the shower, but you’ll just have to take my word on it...

[M-cubed]

Little Eva.

YESSSS!

[Irenic]

I hate the song but of the three you listed—

Jagger/David Bowie (1985) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y-x2fWKbmo

gah..don’t. like.

[Revolting cat!]

NO question, the original, Ethel Merman.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Boy are you old!

[nickcarraway]

The original version by Martha and the Vandellas includes one of the writers of the song on drums - one Marvin Gaye.

[DemforBush]

I’m gonna go with the original version by Martha and the Vandells. I like the VH version well enough, but I prefer the original.

The Jagger/Bowie version was, IMHO, terrible. I’m a huge fan of both musicians, but that cover was probably the second worst song remake of the 1980s.*

*The first being the Aerosmith/RUN-DMC (c)rap-rock remake of “Walk This Way”, of course.

[lwoodham]

I had the fortune of seeing Martha Reese and the Vandellas do it live at the University of Alabama and it was pretty damned awesome. They did that song solid for 40 minutes and the crowd went nuts. They wouldn’t let them stop. I saw many great groups live there while I was in college, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Iron Butterfly, Martha and the Vandellas, Linda Rhonstat, 3 Dog Night, and lots more. I so wish I could go back to that time. Life was much simpler then.

[JaguarXKE]

What about Occupy Wall Street? Oh no, wait, that was “Pi$$in’ in the Streets.” Never mind.

[driftless2]

Guy Lombardo and The Royal Canadians did a showstopper with this tune back in the thirties. Oh you kid! (I might be lying.)

[The Free Engineer]

For a Dancing in the Streets, 1970-05-06 has always been my favorite.

http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-05-06.sbd.gmb.95817.flac24

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Fred Frith

[CrouchingTiger620]

while i am a fan of the music of bowie and jagger the video alone is enough to swing me back to Martha.....it is rare that any cover beats a good original....another good topic would be beatles or joe cocker in “bathroom window”

[LS]

Martha and the Vandellas. Don't know if this was a Spector "Wall of Sound," but it sure had that feel. I do like Van Halen's version, too.

BTW, Martha and the Vandellas will be at the "Nashville Connection"/Heroes Salute in GREENVILLE, SC June 28-30.