Today's single song is Cat Stevens' "The First Cut Is The Deepest". Fear not, we have avoided the Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow versions; and we have failed to find the Keith Hampshire version, which romped its way to the top of the Canadian charts in 1973, making it the first Number One version of the song. Or so Wikipedia tells me.
We start with Cat's own version, although it was not the first to be released - that honour fell to P.P. Arnold. There are hundreds in not thousands of reggae versions. Most of them follow the same template but a few are a bit more "out there" - we have one of each. Then we finish off with Dale Hawkins who is best known as a real rockin' cat. Presumably at this point in his career he was trying out a new direction, and to these ears it suited him pretty well.
"The First Cut Is The Deepest" - Cat Stevens
"The First Cut Is The Deepest" - P.P. Arnold
"The First Cut" - J.C. Lodge
"The First Cut Is The Deepest" - I-Roy
"The First Cut Is The Deepest" - Dale Hawkins
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Ernie, I'm always happy to see a new Single Song Sunday post! I may not be partial to all of the versions, but still find listening to them interesting. For me, P.P. Arnold's version is the definitive one.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you, Marie. Apparently Cat also felt P.P. Arnold's version was definitive, which supposedly is why he never released his own version as a single. It probably is, but there is not much to choose between them.
ReplyDeleteSome people might say it should be illegal not to like the PP ARnold version, Ernie. I'm sure you've heard this:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4HiSM-0rfY
Looks like Keith made a few records:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQCVTJTPTHE