Elvis
It’s Now Or Never
Can’t Help Falling In Love
vs
Cat Stevens
Wild Word
Father and Son
Team Elvis went with two slow numbers, showing off Presley’s romantic side: Sexy Man Singing Love Songs is perhaps the centrality of Elvis’ inconography—(female fans have been making quite a ruckus in the halls of Scarriet March Madness this year) though most “hip cats” like to think Elvis is more about “rock n’ roll.” There’s a danger in idolizing singers as sex objects. Did Elvis Presley age well?
Cat Stevens, the no. 15 seed—Elvis’ underdog opponent (“you aint nothin but an underdog”) makes an interesting contrast.
Unlike Elvis, Cat sings his own songs.
The 1960s saw the explosion of the “singer-songwriter.”
Elvis belonged to an era in which you had “singers” and “musicians” and “songwriters” and “lyric writers” all pretty separate.
Does this matter? Is this an emotional advantage for Cat Stevens? Does one personify the songs one writes (and plays) better than singing a number written by somebody else?
We can’t say for sure. Music is about cooperation between various parts. Someone who writes, sings, and also plays what goes out on the record will have a certain advantage, but this doesn’t guarantee a better outcome.
Is Cat Stevens revolutionary compared to Elvis—are we talking Beethoven compared to let’s say early Baroque? Elvis in “It’s Now or Never” and “Can’t Help Falling In Love” certainly sounds more polished than Cat Stevens in “Wild World” and “Father and Son”—but who is to say which one sounds more emotionally sincere?
“Wild World” has a poignant urgency. “It’s Now or Never” has a sexual urgency—or perhaps that’s not fair; a romantic urgency? Perhaps when we are not sure whether it’s sex or romance, this is more problematic in ultimately judging a song, especially after the living sex idol is gone?
Elvis sounds more “operatic,” as well as more romantic.
This contest is very hard to judge, because both men seem to succeed equally well at doing different things. Elvis floats like a butterfly, Cat Stevens stings like a bee.
There’s a good chance you will hear a busker on the street performing “Wild World.” “It’s Now or Never?” Only someone like Elvis could sing that.
But hold on—if we examine the songs—“Wild World” is just as sophisticated and difficult as “It’s Now or Never,” more so, in fact. The Elvis tune features one nice unexpected chord on the word “tomorrow.” “It’s Now or Never” is quite a simple song. “Wild World” has more than one chord in the verse which strays from the key to provide melancholy. “Wild World” is quite an interesting song.
Winner Cat Stevens
Rolling Stones
2000 Light Years From Home
Gimme Shelter
vs.
Frank Sinatra
It Was A Very Good Year
Strangers In The Night
This is a similar contest to Cat Stevens v. Elvis—an act, The Rolling Stones, which composes their own material (or so we’re told) up against a “cover” artist—the immortal Frank Sinatra.
There’s quite a difference between “Frank, would you like to do this song?” and “What the hell shall we write today, boys?”
Frank should win. He gets to choose. The Rolling Stones have nothing to choose from—except what they manage to come up with between gigs and shooting up drugs.
The Kingston Trio released “It Was A Very Good Year” in 1961, a simple folk arrangement, and Frank was driving through the desert when he heard it on the radio, and said to himself, “I’m going to record this—with an orchestra.” Songwriter Ervin Drake (born Ervin Maurice Druckman in Manhattan in 1919) wrote the song. “It Was A Very Good Year” has cinematic lyrics, and the music is wistful and tuneful to a fantastic degree.
“2000 Light Years From Home” has great lyrics, a hook, and atmosphere. “Gimme Shelter” has lyrics which are slightly corny, but it has an intoxicating off-kilter beat. Who deserves credit for the rhythm of “Gimme Shelter?” Charlie Watts, the drummer? Something Brian Jones did when he was fooling around? Stories on the origins of Stones songs seem few and far between compared to the Beatles, for instance.
How is it possible the Stones (wasted Keith and prancing Mick) wrote so many great songs? How could “Jagger/Richards” possibly compete with the institution that is Frank Sinatra?
In the 1950s, Songwriter was a profession all to itself, and it had departments—Music, Lyrics, Arranging.
And Singer was a profession, too.
Who needs professionalism?
Winner The Rolling Stones
Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley have been eliminated.