Prince ~ betcha by golly wow

[glencro]

He didn't do many covers but this I enjoyed

[marv2]

Glen, do you know what year this was done?

[MIKEW-UK]

Here's the original by its composer.....Connie Stevens titled Keep Growing Strong. Who would believe Prince would cover a Connie Stevens record?

[splanky]

Here's the original by its composer.....Connie Stevens titled Keep Growing Strong. Who would believe Prince would cover a Connie Stevens record?

In all honesty Prince didn't cover a Connie Stevens record, he covered a Stylistics record.
It doesn't matter if Connie's was the original. It's like saying Ice T's version of Hey Joe was
him covering a Billy Roberts record just because Billy did the original. Ice T was covering
and tributing Jimi Hendrix...but hey, it's all good...

[marv2]

In all honesty Prince didn't cover a Connie Stevens record, he covered a Stylistics record.
It doesn't matter if Connie's was the original. It's like saying Ice T's version of Hey Joe was
him covering a Billy Roberts record just because Billy did the original. Ice T was covering
and tributing Jimi Hendrix...but hey, it's all good...

It was definitely a cover of the Stylistics recording in that Prince grew up at the same time as I did and the Stylistics were extremely popular in the early 70s. Today is the first time I heard that Connie Stevens recorded the song.

[marv2]

In all honesty Prince didn't cover a Connie Stevens record, he covered a Stylistics record.
It doesn't matter if Connie's was the original. It's like saying Ice T's version of Hey Joe was
him covering a Billy Roberts record just because Billy did the original. Ice T was covering
and tributing Jimi Hendrix...but hey, it's all good...

Whoever uploaded this video to Youtube is off by about 5 years. The show "Shivaree" where this came from was not on the air by 1970.

[Guy]

I think that video of Connie Stevens was purposefully chosen to highlight the incongruous origins of a song that became a landmark recording in R&B/Soul. For the record, I believe the Phyllis Hyman/Norman Connors recording is the definitive version. While Prince's falsetto version mirrors the Stylistics', don't think he could have failed to notice Phyllis' emotive reading of the song.

[Guy]

[alanh]

Here's the original by its composer.....Connie Stevens titled Keep Growing Strong. Who would believe Prince would cover a Connie Stevens record?

Surely you don't mean that Connie Stevens wrote the song, Mike? Credit has always been to Thom Bell & Linda Creed. It's great to hear Connie's original though. I'm still waiting and hoping for a company like Ace to put together a compilation of lesser known Thom Bell recordings like this.

[MIKEW-UK]

Alan, you are of course correct, scratch the composer credit for Connie..... Cheers Mike

[Motown Eddie]

Glen, do you know what year this was done?

Prince released his remake of The Stylistics' "Betcha By Golly Wow" in 1996 on the triple-disc album Emancipation.