Cover Version: Let's Spend the Night Together

The subject doing the rounds on social media today has centred on cover versions. Many have been posted, some of which I'd deem to be good, some dreadful, but, in the main, most have been fantastically dull. Anyway, for me, there can really only be one choice today on what would have been David Bowie's 79th birthday: his cover of Let's Spend the Night Together' by The Rolling Stones. I've never really been able to listen to the Stones for long periods of time as Jagger's voice brings me out in a rash but I deeply love many cover versions of their songs (Echo and the Bunnymen's 'Paint it Black', for example):

My favourite, by a country mile, however, is Bowie's version of 'Let's Spend the Night Together.' It simply pulses with passion, sex and vitality. One review on a Bowie webpage says, "In this song, Jagger sounds hesitant and wry, whereas Bowie is manic and confident, as though he's so sure of his conquest he's already got his eye on another one." Well, quite! 

Before we savour Bowie's pulsating version, let's remind ourselves of the pedestrian and plodding original by The Rolling Stones:

And here, in sharp contrast, is Bowie's scintillating, life-affirming, go and grab the night by the nipples (copyright Fleabag) version of 'Let's Spend the Night Together', which, for my money, makes the Stones version as drab as drab can be:

Don't you agree, darlings, that this wham bam, thank you, ma'am, glam thunderbolt knocks the Stones version into a cocked hat? And, as a humorous aside, I think I may have unintentionally 'sexted' my still-to-be future wife in our early courting days because of this song, for I clearly recall texting her the message, 'Let's Spend the Night Together, Now I need you more than ever!" one afternoon when I'd been discharged from a hospital admission. I guess Bowie would have smiled and considered it job done, in any case, as he inspires us both to embrace life and be anything but coy, darlings! 

So, which one do you prefer, kind reader? I'm sure you have your own favourite and greatly disliked cover versions. They certainly make the musical landscape a far richer tapestry than if they never existed, don't they?

"Let's Spend the Night Together,
Now I need you more than ever...

Let's spend the night together Now!"

Dedicated to the lady I texted, Lydia, who also took me to see Bowie in 2002 on a night I will never, ever forget, and who then became my wife, a little while later, in 2012.

"Our love comes from above... OH!
Let's Spend the night together, now!"
xxxx