Compare And Contrast

From 1964...

...and 1980...

...and 1995.

The song itself was written by Mick and Keith (in 1963) but the Stones demo remains unreleased; the song was given to Brit popsters The Mighty Avengers by Stones manager/producer Andrew Oldham and their record actually charted in England in '64. The dawn-of-the-'80s version by The Inmates (which was the first one I heard) was a big fave at Casa Simels for a long time; the Inmates themselves were the sort of missing link between pub rock and punk. The Lonely Boys (who were Swedish, and not to be confused with the American Los Lonely Boys, who came later and were something wholly other) were previously unknown to me, as was their version of the song.

I kind of love all of the above in equal measure, although if pressed the Inmates take is marginally my favorite, if only for sentimental reasons.

A pretty fab song overall, though, and it is one of the great regrets of my adult life that the Floor Models never got around to covering it.

Your thoughts? 😎