tears of a clown

I seriously adore the Beat's look at this, it's creative & interesting & and the sax riff in the chorus is A+++ and yes this is still Smokey in a walk.

I love the Beat's version and many of their covers (e.g. the Doc Pomus one on this same album) but Smokey wins.

nobody is going to rep for the beat?!?

is there not a single contrarian left?

They're all tied up in other threads

Turrican to thread

i probably heard the English Beat version first and loved it. but the Smokey version is one of the best songs of the decade.

with all due respect to Bryan Ferry too.

poll of smokey covers of the era might be more of a contest. japan's i second that emotion also strong.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Voted for Smokey but like the Beat version a lot as well.

even beyond Smokey's butter vocals, you just can't beat the Funk Brothers

I had no idea that:

1) This song was first released as an album track in 1967 before getting re-released as a single in the UK in 1970 when they were desperate for new Smokey Robinson; after it became a hit it was released as a single in the US as well where it did predictably well.

2) The music was mostly written and by Stevie Wonder, with an assist from Funk Bro Hank Cosby. Smokey finished it with lyrics he had lying around from a few years earlier.

Yeah, that's right... Stevie Wonder is godlike, but the track getting handed over to Smokey to contribute was the best possible thing for it. Also, I can't imagine Stevie's voice on it for some reason.