Who Did It Better
You Can't Hurry Love
Luther recorded 'Papa Was a Rolling Stone' for his 1994 'Songs' album and he had to find a way into a song that was already a cultural monolith. He dropped the tempo, removed the wah-wah guitar and the string section, and let the song breathe as a ballad where the anger of the original had settled into something like resignation. Where the Temptations' version was an indictment Luther's is a eulogy delivered by a man who never got to say goodbye and is not sure he would know what to say if he could.
The Original -- 1966
The Supremes
The Temptations' 1972 twelve-minute epic 'Papa Was a Rolling Stone' was a monument built from bassline and bitterness with Norman Whitfield's production piling instruments on like headstones. Luther's 1994 version is the same monument visited by a son who has stopped kicking at the grave and started reading the dates on it.
The Cover -- 1970
Diana Ross
The Temptations' 1972 twelve-minute epic 'Papa Was a Rolling Stone' was a monument built from bassline and bitterness with Norman Whitfield's production piling instruments on like headstones. Luther's 1994 version is the same monument visited by a son who has stopped kicking at the grave and started reading the dates on it.
