Multiple versions of a song competing on the record charts at the same time used to be fairly routine. Saturday’s American Top 40 with Casey Kasem on SiriusXM was from 1971. At the time, there were two versions the song ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’ on the Billboard chart.
Helen Reddy’s recording peaked at #13. To me it sounds rather rote, almost like she was doing a run-through to check the mic levels.
Yvonne Elliman was an original cast member of Jesus Christ Superstar. In my opinion, this is the vastly superior performance. Yet it only reached #28 on Billboard.
Hearing those records brought to mind another example of two recordings of the same song that were competing on the charts. It’s from the time when I was starting to work as a radio DJ.
Pat Boone’s daughter Debby had a #1 smash hit with ‘You Light Up My Life’. I must have played this single a thousand times.
The original version of the song, for the movie You Light Up My Life, was sung by Kvitka “Kasey” Cisyk. It outshines Debbie’s performance, yet it topped-out at a lowly #80.