Listen To Podcast & Vote Below!

9/24/10 – The “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” Cat Fight!

Posted: September 24th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: R&B, Rock n' Roll | 15 Comments »

Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast

“I Heard It Through The Grapevine”

This week’s Cat Fight takes the classic Motown tune and spins every charting version of the song from Smokey Robinson & The Miracles original unreleased version to The California Raisins’ 1988 near-miss.  In the middle, you’ll find mega-hit versions by Gladys Knight and The Pips and Marvin Gaye.  Creedence’s eleven minute version from 1970 was issued as a three minute single in 1976 and just missed hitting the Pop Top 40, while Roger took the tune BACK to #1 on the R&B charts in 1981.  Vote for your favorite version of this classic tune.

Listen, vote & dig, baby!

Which One Do You DIG The MOST? - "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

15 Comments on “9/24/10 – The “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” Cat Fight!”

  1. 1 Prowlin' With Matt The Cat » Blog Archive » “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” Cat Fight Podcast! said at 12:28 pm on September 24th, 2010:

    […] Click Here To Listen To The FNCF Podcast! Friday Night Cat Fight […]

  2. 2 CCK said at 1:17 pm on September 24th, 2010:

    I dug King Curtis this week. I figured that version sounded the freshest to me and I really enjoyed it! Thanks MTC!

  3. 3 Yum Yum said at 1:31 pm on September 24th, 2010:

    First thing to Sierra Neveda and to Virginia Mayo you’re both Beautiful and let’s all support hose and support Matt The Greatest Cat out There!! Also never liked the song I Heard Thru The Grapevine and no matter who recorded it even Bobby Darin i would’nt care for it !! Years ago while driving if Marvin Gaye or G. Knight and day would come on i would switch the station !! So in desperation if my vote is needed i go with CCK and CCR !! Yum Yum

  4. 4 David said at 3:36 pm on September 24th, 2010:

    This is really a toss-up for me with two great versions, Gladys’ and Marvin’s, so Gladys got my vote for recording earliest. I think Berry Gordy’s judgment was dead on, not releasing the Miracles’ version as a single. Smokey’s great, but this was not one of his better recordings.

  5. 5 Ken said at 5:00 pm on September 24th, 2010:

    I have no trouble listening to the Marvin Gaye version or CCR’s, love them both. I think I dig CCR just a bit more so they get my vote. As for the Miracles, I agree with David on this. I also found the techno version interesting.

  6. 6 Sierra said at 5:53 pm on September 24th, 2010:

    Thanks, Matt, and for the record, I do support and wish you all the best, as stated, in your every endeavor. Thanks for another FNCF this week. My favorite vocal went to Smokey, but Fogerty’s guitar got my vote in the end. All were interesting though.

  7. 7 dave said at 7:25 am on September 25th, 2010:

    got to be marvelous marv for me

  8. 8 Dave Moyer said at 9:19 am on September 25th, 2010:

    Marvin Gaye’s performance was tops for me but I really enjoyed them all except Smokey Robinson’s. That just wasn’t up to par for him. Gordy was right.

  9. 9 Virginia said at 10:01 am on September 25th, 2010:

    CCR was the 70’s music for me and their music was over the top, but the Marvin Gaye vocal was the best. Matt you continue to amaze me with your expertise, please keep it up, again thank you so much.

  10. 10 Johnny G said at 10:58 am on September 27th, 2010:

    I love rare and obscure and alternate versions of songs but in this case nothing really beats the “atmosphere” of the Marvin Gaye classic.

    I may have just switched to CCR if you’d played the full 11 minute version (which I can’t remember having heard) !

  11. 11 Bruce said at 12:27 am on September 28th, 2010:

    Marvin Gaye for both Deb and I this week. It’s hard to vote against one of the great records to come out of the 60’s. Creedance comes in a not too distant second with John putting in a nice solid vocal performance. The 11 minute version isn’t bad, but the guitar solo gets a bit tedious after awhile, it’s just as well they cut it down. Roger is the only version I really disliked, talk about taking the heart and soul out of the song.
    Thanks for the Cat Fight Matt, Deb and I appreciate the time you spend putting these together.

  12. 12 Mike said at 2:43 am on October 2nd, 2010:

    Gladys Knight got my vote. I enjoyed the Smokey Robinson one but but Gladys’s sounded more soulful to me. Also, that was my first time hearing King Curtis’s version and I like that one a lot too. It was a tough vote, heck I liked them all!

  13. 13 twilight7377 said at 12:48 am on October 3rd, 2010:

    I love CCR, but it couldn’t be anyone but Marvin Gaye!!
    Matt.. It seems that every week I see that your “Juke” show is on a new station! Awesome! Pretty soon you’re gonna’ be famous with EVERYBODY, not just us “Cats and Kittens”! I can’t wait!!

    cc

  14. 14 Crystal said at 5:58 pm on October 12th, 2010:

    My vote went to CCR but just barely, I also really, really like Gladys and Marvin

  15. 15 RSBarthelmess said at 8:53 am on April 6th, 2014:

    Marvin Gaye everytime, though one version I love that is not included here is that by The Slits, my absolutely fave version outside of Marvin’s.

Leave a Reply