Heard It Through the Grapevine: Gladys Knight vs Gaye vs CCR

http://fwap.ru/d/mp3/big/eng/l/Led_Zeppelin/Led_zeppelin-hot_dog.mp3
CURRENT STANDINGS:
Gladys Knight: 4
Marvin Gaye: 1
CCR: 1

Which version is better? VOTE in the COMENT BOX!!!

Here's the Wikipedia article:

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a R&B/soul song written by Motown songwriters Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. The Funk Brothers created the tune. Whitfield recorded several versions with different Motown acts, and two became hits: one by Gladys Knight & the Pips became a number-two hit in the United States in 1967, while the version by Marvin Gaye became a number-one hit in the U.S. and the UK in 1968. Gaye's version is #80 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[1]
Gaye's version also listed at #65 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of all time.
Gaye's version, the most notable, was his first number-one hit and the most successful single released by Motown in the 1960s. "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" has been covered, notably an extended 1970 version by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Gladys Knight & the Pips version
Whitfield recorded a fourth version. This was recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips, in an uptempo gospel-based arrangement influenced by Aretha Franklin's "Respect". The Atlanta, Georgia act had joined the label the year before and had been relegated to second-stringers. After Whitfield presented the demo tapes for "Grapevine", Gladys Knight, Bubba Knight, William Guest, and Edward Patten worked for several weeks on their vocal arrangement. To make the song suitable for Gladys Knight, the first line of the second verse ("I know a man ain't supposed to cry/But these tears I can't hold inside") was altered to ("Take a good look at these tears in my eyes/Baby, these tears I can't hold inside").
Gordy allowed the Pips' version to be a single. Motown put little support behind it and the Pips relied on connections with DJs across the United States to get the record played.
Gladys Knight & the Pips' "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart on November 25, 1967, and stayed there for six weeks, making it the group's second R&B number one after 1961's "Every Beat of My Heart". It reached two on the Billboard Pop Singles singles chart the same month, with The Monkees' "Daydream Believer" holding top spot. It was Motown's best-selling single to that point.

Marvin Gaye version

Whitfield had taken a liking to the Marvin Gaye version. He asked Gordy to release Gaye's "Grapevine" as a single, but Gordy didn't think Gaye's version would be a hit, especially after Knight & the Pips' version. In 1968, Whitfield managed to have Gaye's "Grapevine" added to Gaye's 1968 album In the Groove. The single for In the Groove, "You", made it to 34 on the pop charts, while "Grapevine" became the most-played and requested track from the album. DJs who had been playing Gaye's "Grapevine" from the album began requesting the song's release as a single, which was done in the autumn of 1968.
Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" outsold Gladys Knight and the Pips', and until The Jackson 5's "I'll Be There" 20months later, it was the biggest hit single on Motown. It stayed at the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart for seven weeks, from December 14, 1968 to January 25, 1969." Gaye's "Grapevine" also held number one on the R&B chart during the same seven weeks, and stayed at number one in the United Kingdom for three weeks starting on March 26, 1969. The label was pleased with the success, although Gaye, depressed because of issues such as the illness of singing partner Tammi Terrell, was quoted as saying that his success "didn't seem real" and that he "didn't deserve it".
The In the Groove album was re-issued as I Heard It Through the Grapevine after the success of the single. Gaye's "Grapevine" was entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. In the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, published in 2004, Gaye's version of the song was placed at number eighty.[4]
Because of the success of both versions , "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" was the first and last number one on the Billboard R&B chart in 1968: the Pips version was the first week of January, the Gaye version the last week of December. Knight was not pleased that Gaye's version usurped her own. She stated that Gaye's version was recorded over an instrumental track Whitfield had prepared for a Pips song, an allegation Gaye denied.[5]
Meanwhile, a second version by The Miracles, with a similar arrangement to their first version, appeared as an album track on their 1968 Special Occasion LP. Their original recording was issued in 2004 on a Hip-O Select compilation album entitled Motown Sings Motown Treasures .

Creedence Clearwater Revival version

Creedence Clearwater Revival recorded an 11-minute version for their 1970 album Cosmo's Factory. There is a ten-minute live version on the Average White Band's 1976 album Person To Person.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• heard
• it
• through
• thru
• the
• grapevine
• gladys
• knight
• and
• pips
• marvin
• gaye
• creedence
• clearwater
• revival
• ccr
• motown

[fatmac905]

marvin nails it!!!!

[jstarn21]

if marvin gaye sang with ccr playing in the background, THAT would be the best

[ACDCBOY98]

ccr is more clear and he sings it more better ccr all the way

[solidboi87]

The Empress of SOUL...Gladys Knight...

[balbrecht0]

Ccr just because it's 11 minutes long.

[clarktransfer]

the Empress... hands down

[clarktransfer]

gladys!

[jstarn21]

if marvin gaye sang with ccr playing in the background, THAT would be the best

[xxBobxThexKingxx]

CCR's version has way more intensity than any of the others. Definitely voting for CCR



[savvas90]

CCR all the way!!!

[jojoxx1231]

Gladys hands down:)