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A few to get the topic going:
Breaking Up is hard To Do
Neil Sedaka (1962)
Neil Sedaka (1975)
Gloria
Speedo and the Cadillacs
The Escorts
For Sentimental Reasons
The Righteous Brothers (B-side of Ebb Tide)
The Cleftones
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Revolution...Beatles
slow and fast ver.
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Misty
Johnny Mathis
Ray Stevens
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Danny Boy
Andy Williams
Conway Twitty
Interesting note:
Conway Twitty's version was banned by the BBC because it was considered to be a disrespectful and too raucous version of the traditional sombre Irish ballad.
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Light My Fire
The Doors
Jose Feliciano
Handy Man
Jimmy Jones
James Taylor
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See You In September
The Tempos
The Happenings
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Please Mr. Postman
The Beatles
The Carpenters
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Ticket to Ride
The Beatles
The Carpenters
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Apache
The Shadows 1960
Hot Butter (with a taste of their Popcorn) 1972
Bend Me Shape Me
The Outsiders 1966
The American Breed 1967
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memphis boy wrote:
Revolution...Beatles
slow and fast ver.
Paul McCartney also did slow and fast versions of "No More Lonely Nights". And although "Revolution" was a John Lennon song, I think it's still rather noteworthy that McCartney was involved in two such situations.
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Unchained Melody: slow versions originally by Les Baxter, Al Hibbler and others, and then later by the Righteous Brothers; fast version by Vito & The Salutations
Knock On Wood: slow version by Eddie Floyd; fast version by Amii Stewart
You Keep Me Hangin' On: fast version by The Supremes; slow version by Vanilla Fudge
And an unusual one ...
Proud Mary: slow and fast versions in the same recording by Ike & Tina Turner
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Great examples Lorne!!
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Mona Lisa
Nat King Cole
Carl Mann
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Here's another unusual one. In 1974-75, Nazareth and Jim Capaldi released very different versions of "Love Hurts" ... Nazareth's being slow, Capaldi's much more uptempo. Nazareth's version came out well ahead of Capaldi's in the UK, but in North America they hit the charts at roughly the same time. Capaldi's version only got to #97 on Billboard, but it did much better in Canada and I heard it on some stations during the same time period that others were playing Nazareth's.
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Thought of another situation where two very different versions of a song came out at around the same time. In 1964, the original, uptempo recording of My Girl Sloopy by The Vibrations reached #26 on Billboard. Then in May 1965, Toronto's Little Caesar and The Consuls released a much slower version which made the top 10 on both CHUM and on Canada's national RPM chart. Their version was then released in the US in July, the same month that The McCoys' uptempo "Hang On Sloopy" was released, and they both entered the Hot 100 on the same week in August. The McCoys' version easily won that battle as it went to #1, but Little Caesar and The Consuls did manage to get to #50 and so there were completely different versions of the same song that got radio airplay at the same time.
Also worth mentioning is that The McCoys then went on to use significant elements of "Hang On Sloopy" to create an uptempo version of "Fever", which was in contrast to the slower versions that had been previously done by Little Willie John and Peggy Lee. The three versions couldn't be much more different from each other while still being the same song.
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Blue Moon
The Marcels
Elvis Presley
(Elvis' version from 1956 is an interesting one, with some weird screeching in the middle)