Battle of the Covers: A Natural Woman (request)

"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
08/25/2014 at 12:30 • Filed to: Battle of the Covers, BOTC, Musiclopnic, mcseanerson

I can't honestly say I've ever felt like a natural woman, and considering the mustache on mcseanerson's avatar picture I'd wager he's never felt like one either, but that didn't stop him from requesting it for our next round. Welcome to round five of Battle of the Covers, today we're looking at the Aretha Franklin classic: (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.

In !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! we tackled nine versions of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence." Susan Boyle's down-tempo interpretation took an early lead, narrowly pulling ahead of Breaking Benjamin and Lacuna Coil. Ultimately though, a surge of votes for Lacuna Coil rocketed them to the lead, a surge I attribute almost entirely to the fantastic vocals of Cristina Scabia. Personally, I think she had by far the best voice of any of the covers, and the backing vocals of LC's version (especially the chorus, where the added voices almost overpower Cristina) actually kept it from being as good as it could have been. I'm not sad to see Lacuna Coil win though.

The battle for wost cover was the least represented battle we've had yet in terms of votes, both by total number of votes (20) and votes compared to the poll for best cover (12 fewer votes). Perhaps this means many felt there was no cover bad enough to be declared worst (or, alternately, too many bad covers to choose just one). But ultimately there had to be a biggest loser, and in this case it was Tori Amos. She may have only earned nine votes, but with 20 votes in all that's nearly 50% of the ballots cast. Sorry, Tori.

A Natural Woman was originally released by Aretha Franklin back in 1967 and it quickly became a major hit, peaking at #8 on the Bilboard Hot 100 charts. Natural Woman could have been a very different song by a very different artist if not for a chance passing. Atlantic Records co-owner Jerry Wexler was contemplating the concept of "natural man" when he happened to drive by famed songwriter Carole King on the street. Inspired, Wexler yelled to King that he wanted a "natural woman" song for Aretha's next album. King took the message to her songwriting partner Gerry Goffin, and together they wrote the famed hit.

Unsurprisingly, A Natural Woman has been jumped on as a choice cover from the very beginning. Peggy Lipton released her cover just a single year after Aretha's original, and Carole King (yes, the same Carole King who wrote the song in the first place) covered it just three years after that. Bobby Womack wrote a cover variation titled "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Man" in 1973, and that version was in turn covered by Rod Stewart in 1974. Since the '90s it's become a mainstay of female recording artists, and has been visited by Celine Dion, Mary J Blige, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estfan, Shaniah Twain, Kelly Clarkson, Christina Agulera, and Jennifer Hudson, among countless others.

Another tough round of deciding who's in and who's out. This genre definitely isn't my strong suit. I tried to take a good selection of older and newer covers from across the genres and artistic spectrum. My "no live performances" rule helped cut things down, as artists like Gloria, Shaniah, and Clarkson haven't released studio performances. Others, like Peggy Lipton, simply couldn't be found on YouTube

Carole King - (1971)

Bobby Womack - (1973)

Rod Stewart - (1974)

Bonnie Tyler - (1978)

James Ingram - (1989)

Mary J Blige - (1994)

Celine Dion - (1995)

Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies - (2003)

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BY THE WAY! If you want to check back on the results of previous rounds, or see what covers are coming in future rounds, there is now a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with past rounds and the upcoming battle schedule.

DISCUSSION (23)

505Turbeaux > Dusty Ventures
08/25/2014 at 12:33

Rod Stewart all day. Man he was good in the 70's

crowmolly > Dusty Ventures
08/25/2014 at 12:37

I don't think any of them can touch Aretha.

lone_liberal > Dusty Ventures
08/25/2014 at 12:42

Nice piece, but this is the best cover that Aretha Franklin ever did.

CB > Dusty Ventures
08/25/2014 at 12:43

Can I make two future cover battle suggestions? One is "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" (since I love the Great Big Sea cover), the other is "Psycho Killer".

vorspringing > Dusty Ventures
08/25/2014 at 12:45

Hadn't heard the Bobby Womack version - that's a lot better than I would've expected, but Carole always wins because it's her song.

mcseanerson > Dusty Ventures
08/25/2014 at 12:51

Just so it's clear I'm voting Gimmes. I love the way they sing such a feminine song in such a masculine tone and with complete confidence and ownership of it.

Dusty Ventures > CB
08/25/2014 at 12:52

Good choices! Psych Killer is definitely in, End of the World as We Know It will depend on if I can find enough covers of it to have a legitimate battle.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Dusty Ventures
08/25/2014 at 12:53

Gotta be Me First. Saw them live once, excellent cover band. Their cover of country roads is excellent.

Dusty Ventures > lone_liberal
08/25/2014 at 12:54

You're right, that's excellent. But this is about the best cover OF Aretha, not the best cover BY Aretha ;)

lone_liberal > Dusty Ventures
08/25/2014 at 13:04

I really, REALLY, should not comment on Monday mornings.

Agrajag > Dusty Ventures
08/25/2014 at 14:24

May I suggest David Bowie's Heroes. I know there were covers by The Wallflowers, Peter Gabriel, Nico and Blondie released a live version on a single.

Dusty Ventures > Agrajag
08/25/2014 at 14:29

Great suggestion! I can include the German-language Apocalyptica/Rammstein cover "Helden" for extra fun.

Dusty Ventures > lone_liberal
08/25/2014 at 14:54

I say we all just sleep in until noon on Mondays

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > lone_liberal
08/25/2014 at 20:40

Also

JawKnee > Dusty Ventures
08/25/2014 at 21:01

I'm a grown man and I will wail the Gimme Gimme version with no shame

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Dusty Ventures
08/26/2014 at 02:40

Riddlin' Kids did it.

505Turbeaux > Dusty Ventures
08/26/2014 at 17:01

and you are the reason I have been on a Rod Stewart tear the past 2 days. God dammit OPPO don't know about the ways of Rod

Stupidru > Dusty Ventures
08/26/2014 at 17:04

In any battle of the women, Kate Upton wins by default

Enginerrrrrrrrr > Dusty Ventures
08/26/2014 at 17:16

Btw I think one you could add on here is "American Woman". Pretty sure there have been quite a few covers of it. Was reminded when I listened to the Lenny Kravitz version yesterday.

Dusty Ventures > Enginerrrrrrrrr
08/26/2014 at 17:34

I'll have to double check how many other covers there are beyond Kravitz, but that's a great suggestion!

tromoly > Dusty Ventures
08/26/2014 at 17:36

The Gimmies win every cover, bar none.

Also, more Gimmie Gimmies, just because.

Enginerrrrrrrrr > Dusty Ventures
08/26/2014 at 17:55

There's a bunch of covers listed on this site (wanted to make sure it was a reasonable amount)

http://www.whosampled.com/cover/95702/Bu…

FYI the one directly compared to the guess who is...creative (possibly terrible). Scroll down and they list a bunch of others.

Dusty Ventures > Enginerrrrrrrrr
08/26/2014 at 18:01

Perfect!