I was listening to a song on the television the other day while getting ready for work and immediately started singing it differently than how it was being sung. The song, Ticket To Ride by The Beatles, was being covered by some group in a commercial for a car dealership, I think. Either way, I began singing it the way The Carpenters did it, which was vastly different than the up-tempo song The Beatles and most of their imitators favor.
That got me thinking: Nowadays, even on Sirius/XM radio, all manner of different versions of things -- movies, songs, uniforms -- are out there, and depending on the popular reaction, they're either with us for the long haul or quickly shunted aside and hopefully out of mind. Sirius/XM even has an acoustic channel where songs made famous by artists are then redone by the artists in acoustic fashion, sometimes to their benefit and sometimes to their detriment.
Here, then, is my humble list of things -- songs and movies, predominantly, but I may think of other things -- where there is a question as to which is better. Songs are easy: Is one version preferable over the other? Books and movies usually come down to whether the book or the movie was the better version; sometimes, the result is surprising. There are also remakes of movies that begin the debate.
Note: Karen disagrees with me sometimes. I'm going to indicate her choice with italics. I know of at least one instance where we disagree; there may be more. My choices are in bold, with comments in parentheses underneath:
Book The Count of Monte Cristo Movies
(There hasn't been a good movie version of this yet)
Book The Four Feathers Movies
(Id.)
Book Doc Hollywood Movie
(The book pales by comparison)
Book We Were Soldiers Movie
(The book's slightly better, but they're both good)
Book The Perfect Storm Movie
(It's unfair, because the book's so good)
The Beatles Ticket to Ride The Carpenters
(I prefer the melancholy version)
Gene Wilder Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Johnny Depp
(Seriously? Is there any doubt?)
Book Lonesome Dove Movie
(I know it's a series, but both are excellent)
Book The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Movie
(Both are excellent)
Matt Nathanson Come On Get Higher Sugarland
(Karen swears everyone agrees with her; I'm right)
Book The Longest Day Movie
(The movie's OK, but the book's better)
Book The Ghost Raid Movie
(The movie's got a different title, but both are great)
Book The Day of the Jackal Movie
(The book gets a slight edge over the original movie)
Book Water For Elephants Movie
(The movie gets a slight edge, but only slight)
Book The Odyssey/Ulysses Movie
(Movie's great, but how do you beat Homer?)
John Mayer Why, Georgia, Why? Brad Paisley
(Paisley just kills it)
Brooks & Dunn My Maria B.W. Stevenson
(It's the only B&D song I like, but it's a good one)
Book Black Hawk Down Movie
(Both are excellent)
Book The Caine Mutiny Movie
(It's hard to beat Bogie)
Book The Quiet Man Movie
(There's not even a question about this)
Series M*A*S*H Movie
(The series was good but inconsistent)
Book Barbarians at the Gate Movie
(The book was fantastic, the movie not so much)
Book The Princess Bride Movie
(Both are excellent)
Book Deliverance Movie
(The movie's chilling)
Jim Belushi Sahara Humphrey Bogart
(See, The Caine Mutiny, supra)
Steve McQueen The Thomas Crown Affair Pierce Brosnan
(This is considered heresy, but I like Brosnan's better)
Book Touching the Void Movie
(The book was surprisingly boring)
Those are my two cents' worth. I'm sure there are more that I'm missing. Feel free to chime in. I imagine Karen will be commenting on Come On Get Higher, so there's no need to be shy.
(c) 2013 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles
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