It's hard to imagine a song of this elevated quality sounding anything other than great with any serious lyrics, and we could debate the relative merits of them at length...Kiki Dee's vocal performance is very good, but I think Helen Reddy's voice is stronger and clearer and tonally more appealing (at least to me) - and she sings with the control and natural confidence of years of performing experience (she started singing with her parents at a very early age) - and yes, Sanson should indeed be very happy - and proud.I greatly prefer Kiki Dee’s ‘Amoreuse’ to Helen Reddy’s ‘Emotion’. The lyrics by Gary Osbourne far greater convey the drama of Veronique Sanson’s original. They also tell a concise story, whereas the new lyrics on ‘Emotion’ have less impact. The tempo is also better on ‘Amoreuse’. ‘Emotion’ rushes through and, once again, loses the drama by being sped up. These are possibly a few reasons why Helen Reddy’s song stalled in the mid-twenties in the US and Canada, while Kiki Dee’s got close to the Top 10 in the countries where it was released.
Personally, I also prefer Kiki Dee’s vocal performance.
Because ‘Amoreuse’ was the big hit in my area and ‘Emotion’ was never played, the Helen Reddy version sounded all wrong when I finally heard it - and it still does sound wrong, to me.
Veronique Sanson was probably happy, though, that her song became a hit three times, in three different reincarnations.
Hard to think of how anyone could do more justice to this very appealing Leon Russell song - except maybe Helen's live in concert version...
One of my favorite songs by Helen.Hard to think of how anyone could do more justice to this very appealing Leon Russell song - except maybe Helen's live in concert version...
I was a bit of a fan in my pre-teen years. I liked a few of her songs that I often heard on the radio. My Nana had also seen Helen Reddy on the TV and said, "She seems to be a very nice person". This cemented my enjoyment of her songs, at the time.I'm not sure the lyrics of the verses here are of the highest literary quality, but the chorus is a killer both musically and lyrically - and Helen's singing is both powerful and compelling...a rare and true musical talent of the highest caliber...RIP.
It is!Ann Peebles "I Pity The Fool" from 1971 is a great song!!