Beech Tree News Network

Time to get under the covers, or behind the covers, as it were.  The other day I was listening to ‘60’s on 6 on SiriusXM when I heard the song “Devil With a Blue Dress “.  It was not, however, the Mitch Ryder version that most of us know.  The song was originally recorded in 1964 by Shorty Long and was titled “Devil With The Blue Dress”.  Long was signed to a Motown label that specialized in Soul recordings, and this was the first single for the label.  Long wrote the song with Motown producer Mickey Stevenson.  I noticed immediately when the song came on the radio that his version is very bluesy.  Unfortunately for Long, his version never charted and his only hit was “Here Comes The Judge”.

Mitch Ryder's version in 1966 was a medley with "Good Golly Miss Molly," and was much faster than Long's original. Ryder, who was a white Soul singer from Detroit (one of the few places where Long's original version got some airplay), also had a hit with "Jenny Take A Ride," which was a combination of Little Richard's "Jenny Jenny" and the classic Blues song CC Rider.

Fans of ‘70’s music will no doubt remember Loggins and Messina’s song “Your Mama Don’t Dace”.  The song reached #4 on the Pop chart and #19 on the Easy Listening chart in 1972.  The song deals with the ‘50’s and ‘60’s lifestyle.  Rock band Poison covered the song in 1988.  The song appeared on their sophomore album, Open Up and Say Ahhh, and was released as the albums 4th single.  Poison’s version reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Loggins & Messina’s version reached #4.  

The late Ritchie Valens released “Come On Let’s Go” in August 1958.  The McCoy’s covered the song in 1966.  It was covered for a third time by Los Lobos in 1983.  That version was rereleased in 1987 for the Valens biography La Bamba.  Of course they would cover a lot of his songs for the ’87 movie such as “Oh Donna”, “La Bamba” and “Ohh My Head”.  

I’ll end with some country.  Written by Tommy Collins and originally recorded by Faron Young in 1954, “If You Ain’t Lovin’, You Ain’t Livin’ was covered by George Strait in 1987 and released in 1988 for his album of the same name.  Young’s version peaked at #2 in ’54-’55.  Strait’s cover peaked at #1 on the Billboard charts.