Sunday 6 June 2010

The Definitive Version? You Decide



On yesterday's post I mentioned Every Little Bit Hurts and, how good Ms Holloway's version of the Ed Cobb song, the man also responsible for penning Tainted Love, was.

Swiss Adam in the comments section mentioned a version of the song by The Clash that if the truth be known I have always been rather ambivalent towards.

Last night I decided to play all three versions of the song and have to admit that there is not much in it between The Small Faces version  and Brenda Holloway's, although the Motown version still just shades it,  in my opinion. The big surprise is that the version by Stummer et al has it's merits too, however fails to pack the emotional punch of the other two and is probably why it remained unreleased until CBS were looking for extra product to make the Clash On Broadway boxset more appealing ("turning rebellion into money", indeed.)

So here are the three versions of the song that I posses. I know that these are not the only recorded versions of this song that exist. I think that their is a version by The Jam out there but I remain to be convinced that this is a song which would gain anything being covered by Weller and Co..

You decide

Brenda Holloway - Every Little Bit Hurts

The Small Faces - Every Little Bit Hurts

The Clash - Every Little Bit Hurts

12 comments:

swiss adam said...

Reckon the Clash version was just messing about in the studio and never meant for release. Small Faces are endlessly wonderful, but Brenda shades it.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to intrude but, you seem to have excluded the greatest version.I'm all for Brenda, Small Faces & The Clash but...there's only one Midlander.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM4WLwa-rIw

And he was probably only 6 years old when he recorded it.

TedLoaf.

Simon said...

Mr Ed got there first, I love that versh.

drew said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
drew said...

Hi Tedloaf. Never knowingly heard the Winwood version before. Just listened and it's good but to these ears it lacks the emotion of either Marriot or Holloway's versions.

Check out this performance by Holloway from 2005, over thirty years later and she still sounds amazing.

Just listened to the Jam version and it is pish, Mr Weller should hang his head in shame.

drew said...

Forgot to put in the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4s3N7xbqCM&feature=related

Anonymous said...

The Small Faces version never held much sway with me as I heard the live, screaming girls/ropey PA version on In Memorium 15 odd years before I'd heard the studio version.

Found myself siding with the Brenda Holloway version as the day has worm on though...

Similarities to the Moody Blues Go Now? Hmmm.

Chin chin,
Tedloaf.

drew said...

Tedloaf, now Bessie Banks original of Go Now, different class.

adam said...

Shockingly, The Jam one is the only one I really know. I've just been looking and I also have this live version by The Spencer Davis Group which, interestingly enough, was on a 'Radio Clash' CD which I think came with Q

adam said...

Aha! i should have watched the youtube clip before posting that. Still, there's the mp3 :)

Steve Benton said...

Brenda Holloway but I love the Clash version. Messin' around or not, it's way ahead of the Small Faces or Winwood for me.

drew said...

Steve, that is probably going to be a very unique opinion but even messing about it's better than the Jam's version.