Who did it Better?: Proud Mary

View the LYRICS to this song.

Orginally I was going to compare Ike and Tina's version of this song with Beyonce's performance of it at the 2005 Kennedy Center Honors, thinking that Ike and Tina did the original. I was surprised to find that I was wrong! I actually had to do a little digging to find who did the true original, and good ol' Wikipedia gave me the answers.

Various people (Elvis, Prince, Beyonce & Jewel) have performed this song, but the orginal was done by the rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. The most famous cover version was done by Ike and Tina.

Proud Mary - Creedence Clearwater Revival

This version wasn't as different as I thought it would be from Ike and Tina's. My favorite thing about it is the way the lead singer pronounces "burnin" and "turnin". I also enjoy the fact that they have a big wheel on the set actually turning. I'd have to say that the performance itself doesn't compare to Tina. She makes it much more exciting. This version I can see myself dozing off to while Tina's version makes you wanna get up and dance!



Proud Mary - Ike & Tina Turner

This was done only 2 years after the release of the original which surprised me, especially since the original did well on the charts. It seems to me that one should wait at least five years to re-do a song unless the original was really bad and not popular. Ike and Tina took this and made it their own however. My ignorance about the original performers proves how successful they were.

Like I said, this performance is much more entertaining and entergetic. Is is just me, or does Ike look like a villain character from a Diney movie? I just can't quite put my finger on which one. They should have kept him off camera and just stuck to his vocals. We all know Tina is the real star.




Proud Mary - Beyonce at the 2005 Kennedy Center Honors

Just because I was going to orginally post this before I discovered the true orginal artist, I still will. Beyonce performed this for Tina Turner who was one of the honorees at the Kennedy Center Honors that year. I have said this before, and I will say it again, I am pretty much sick of Beyonce but I can't deny that she is a good performer. As much as I hate to admit it, she did justice to Tina's performance. It's a good thing her weave is sewn on well cause it could easily fly off they way she's whipping her head around. As we have recently seen though, she prefers to attack her audience with pyrotechnics, not hair.

I hate when artists tell the audience to stand up. When they all do, they end up either standing there all awkward not knowing what to do, or they dance when they shouldn't, like the man shown with 1:48 left in the video.

At these awards, when musical artists are honored they have a current, popular young artist come and perform one of their classic songs for them. Now this is a nice thought, but if it were me being honored I'm not sure I would enjoy it. It's like saying to the honoree: "you're over the hill so here's someone younger to do what you used to be able to". I swear if you watch closely you can see the sadness in the eyes of the honorees for a split second.

...and of course the question again is: Who did it better?

My vote is definitely for Tina....forget Ike.