Afternoon Aural: Rita Coolidge
There’s a bit of a debate raging within Queerty headquarters. Who sang a better version of “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher”?
Was it Jackie Wilson, whose 1967 version we posted way back in January, or was it Rita Coolidge, who recorded a disco-infused cover almost a decade later? We’re torn and things may turn ugly if you, our opinionated readers, don’t step in and make up our collective mind.
PS: Please do use the karaoke lines and sing along.
If we’re going by voice, Jackie’s version wins.
If we’re judging by number of high-budget video effects, Rita’s performance wins.
;P
don’t think i ever heard the original version, but i was 9 at the time. love the rita version but with that video it looks like she was singing accapella and they just put the music track in after.
now if somebody here at queerty could get nobody does it better (the spy who loved me)by carly simon and post it………
I vote for Rita – But being the big old mo that I am, I really think of the following when I hear this song:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=977lnGexHto
And Bette Midler’s 1973 version off her second album? As a 70′s gay icon, she at least deserved an honerable mention..
Oh how I HATED Rita Coolidge’s version of this song back in 1977, they used to play it to death and her voice and the arrangement were utterly dull. Jackie’s rocks and can get me moving to this day.
Jackie Wilson.
Jackie’s version is clearly better. Rita’s is incredibly dull and unlistenable. Neither version is great, though.
http://www.BitchRepublic.net
Jackie Wilson — no contest. The father of one of my elementary school classmates who worked at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theatre said Jackie Wilson well deserved his Apollo nickname — “Mr. Excitement.”
Rita Coolidge’s voice is okay, though like so many 1970s performers she strived to be “mellow” a little too much for my tastes.