Pop music fans love to debate who recorded the best version of a song.
Beatles haters say the Isley Brothers' original recording of "Twist and Shout" excels the Fab Four's cover, one of the band's first hits.
The Rolling Stones' "Time Is On My Side" receives the same negative rating when compared with Irma Thomas' rendition.
While Aretha Franklin reached the top of the charts with "Respect," many swear by Otis Redding's recording of the song, which he wrote. I've never cared for the "sock it to me, sock it to me" chorus in Aretha's version.
Then there's the dueling covers of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," by Gladys Knight and the Pips and Marvin Gaye.
Rolling Stones and Beatles fans have engaged in the most heated rivalry over the years, like competing tribes. Certain personality traits have been identified with the followers of each group.
Such disputes aren't new. Some prefer Richard Rodgers' songs written with Lorenz Hart over those he composed with Oscar Hammerstein II.
For years, I was in the Hart club, but I more and more appreciate Hammerstein's work with Rodgers in "Oklahoma" and other musicals. The late Stephen Sondheim, whom Hammerstein mentored, criticized Hart for his loose rhymes.
As aging fans mellow, many see that all music is wonderful, no matter who recorded it.
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