Tune du Jour: “Light My Fire” – The Doors
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: The Ventures vs. Mae West vs. Stevie Wonder
Everybody’s Dressin’ Funny … Cover Me Impressed!
“I’ve got to confess, I was very interested in what I could take and what I could do. I looked upon the body as a laboratory – I used to throw in this chemical and then that one to see what would happen; I was intrigued by that. What one would work against another; I’ve got a bit of alchemist in me that way. But all experiments must come to an end.”
Keith Richards
The Original
The Doors:
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes
The Ventures vs. Mae West vs. Stevie Wonder
The Ventures:
Mae West:
Stevie Wonder:
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. It is your solemn responsibility to decide which cover song prevails. In other words … Which Side Are You On?!!?
cover me impressed 
I’m a huge fan of the Doors, and this is my favorite song of theirs. I was delighted by the Ventures cover. The keyboard riff is similar enough to make ya happy, but different enough to keep you intrigued. The surf guitar treatment is top notch, and the drums get rocking in the end, just like the original. It got my vote.
Mae West’s version is just … silly. I wonder what would inspire her to even consider this. Oh wait, I know. Money. Never mind. Anyway, the music is blah, her voice is weak, the back up singers are dull. At the end, where she’s supposed to really belt it out, she leaves it to the backup singers. Sad.
Stevie Wonder is very talented and he did his own very competent cover version. I just didn’t like this song StevieWonderized this morning. Maybe some other time, but not today. Go, Ventures.
I think this song proves the magic of Jim Morrison. How? Because from a straight musical perspective, it’s pretty boring. And how do I know that? Well, in trying to listen to the Ventures rendition – an honest, true and worthy execution of the song from an entirely instrumental perspective – I was totally bored. I couldn’t make if far beyond 3 minutes or so. Yawn! So, given that I basically do like this song, I must conclude that it’s the magic of Jim Morrison that makes the original as enjoyable as it is, although I suppose there is some novelty and attraction to those keyboards as well.
Of the remaining two versions, neither knocked me off my feet. There is some psychological appeal to the IDEA of Mae West singing Light My Fire, although I’m not sure I’d really call her version “singing”.
So I’ll give this one to Stevie Wonder. Although unremarkable, it’s interesting to hear him apply his style to a song that is so unlike his style.
The Ventures produced their usual, credible instrumental performance. Mae West, well, for a woman in her 50’s (60’s?) to even make the attempt … I applaud her … but I won’t vote for her. Stevie’s version was fun. And so he got my vote.
I expected I’d be voting for The Ventures today, but this cover didn’t really do much for me. I’d always liked their sound, and for many years I had been meaning to buy something by them so they’d be represented in my collection. I didn’t know many song titles or hits, but knew, of course, they did the popular theme to the TV show “Hawaii Five-O”, which was also released as a single and reached number four on the singles charts. So a couple years ago I found a fifty song, double CD best of package and bought it without scrutinizing it much. I got it home and discovered “Hawaii Five-O” isn’t among the fifty tracks included.
This Mae West piece is a curiosity. The only thing I have by her is a contribution to the first “Golden Throats” disc, a gem of a record. One thing I always loved about the “Golden Throats” series, is that alongside all these non-singers and people who have no business in a recording studio is the venerable Jim Nabors, who is supposed to be a professional singer.
Stevie Wonder is the surprise winner today ’cause The Ventures failed to “wow” me.
I voted for Stevie but beyond that I can’t think of anything to say that is nice.