Posted by Bob Sheldon on September 06, 2008 at 16:25:45:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Tonight's 60s 70s Show (09-05-2008) posted by Mike Riccio on September 05, 2008 at 21:30:44:
>>>And AGAIN, did he really expect this to be a hit so close to James Taylor's hit?<<<
This seemed to be a common occurrence in the late summer early fall of 1970. This also happened with:
"Big Yellow Taxi" - Neighborhood (Joni Mitchell)
"Cinnamon Girl" - The Gentrys (Neil Young)
(the Gentrys also did the same in the spring of '71 with "Wild World" Cat Stevens)
"Border Song" - Aretha Franklin (Elton John)
In all these cases, the artists being covered had mainly been limited to FM album rock airplay. They had extreme buzz, but had not yet been established top 40 artists. My guess is that the artists covering these songs, saw a great song and perhaps decided to make it more top 40 friendly than the original version.
I think the Neighborhood record did better than Joni's version, "Cinnamon Girl" was a close cover battle, and Aretha outdid Elton John (of course, from there on in, Elton hit the top 40 consistantly starting with the next release "Your Song".
As for "Fire and Rain", no contest, Sweet Baby James" won hands down.