I recently grabbed an old Mavis Staples “twofer” from eMusic and have really been enjoying her take on the song “The Choking Kind.” After a little looking, it seems hers is actually one of the better known, but I had somehow missed it. I’ve been a fan of a version by Joe Simon for a long time and had kind of assumed it was the original. Looking further, it turns out that the tune dates back to 1959 and was composed by a Nashville mainstay, Harlan Howard and often performed with a pronounced country style pretty different from the first two versions I encountered.
Listen to some of the versions below and weigh in on their relative merits and the fundamentals of the song itself.
(Links in the order I’ve found them. The icons to the left of the links open embedded players.)
- Joe Simon (iMeem)
- Mavis Staples (iMeem)
- Waylon Jennings (YouTube)
- Joss Stone (YouTube)
- The Upsetters (YouTube)
- Ken Parker (YouTube)
- Irving Louis (YouTube)
- soldyouremine (YouTube)
- PoojasMusic (YouTube)
- katelightman (YouTube)
- LydiaMilitzer (YouTube)
- juulschel (YouTube)
- Gelev007 (YouTube)
- Kelss07 (YouTube)
- Lawrence Reynolds (iMeem)
You can find the Joe Simon version on the great “Beg, Scream & Shout!” box set. In other news, it seems that Joe Simon has left music and become a minister.