Which one is your favorite? - LXI -

Another hit coming from the 60s that has been covered by many times and especially one version you can hear below was one of my top songs in the 80s. The song is a Latin soul tune that was written as an instrumental by Rodgers Grant and Pat Patrick, and first recorded by Mongo Santamaría on his 1963 album Watermelon Man. The lyrics were written for it shortly thereafter by Jon Hendricks of the vocal group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.

Here is the song for this week;

"Yeh Yeh"

This version of the song was taken to the top of the UK Singles Chart in January 1965 by Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, breaking The Beatles' long-term hold on the number one spot of five weeks with "I Feel Fine", and a month later appeared on the US Billboard pop singles chart to peak at #21. The US single edited out the saxophone solo break. Interviewed after the 2003 Jools Holland Spring Hootennany, where he had played a "dynamite version" of the song, Fame explained that the arrangement had been written by Tubby Hayes.

This song hit #1 in UK due to heavy airplay at Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station broadcasting from ships in international waters.

In the US, the song was featured in a Chrysler commercial.

Here are the 7 versions I picked for you;

• Matt Bianco - "Yeh Yeh"

• Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames - "Yeh Yeh"

• Hugh Laurie - "Yeh Yeh"

• They Might Be Giants - "Yeh Yeh"

• Diana Krall (feat. Georgie Fame) - "Yeh Yeh"

• Beefy & Mustin - "Yeh Yeh"

• Karrin Allyson - "Yeh Yeh"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.