Oooh, I love wild as the wind. I have listened to this song too many times to count.

I must disagee with the comment about the Thin White Duke. He may well be in a place of sociopathic detatchment during this period, but his rendering here, in his version of Wild Is The Wind, seems entirely heartfelt, though sung or cried from a very sad, dark place. One is given the sense that only his lover can reach him there. His delivery of "Don't you know you're life itself" is doen in such a way as to paly on the sound of "your life...it's hell" like his own. Though their clinging to each other can only be ephemeral, the leaf clings while it is alive. Only with its death does the clinging cease. "You kiss me and my life begins": the kiss pulls him out of the darkness, into the sky, to fly, together, with the wind.

Great post, but there's one omission: Jeff Buckley. He was a Simone fanatic, so no surprise that he would make an attempt.

Here ya go:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=273D976C1F1CCE0A

In html this time.

Is it wrong that I prefer Cat Power's version to Nina Simone's?

No?

I didn't think so.

But it's so right to think the Bowie version is a bit meh.

Dusty - Thanks for the addition. The song was originally recorded by Johnny Mathis, but I've never heard his version (probably not so hot). Anyone know of any other versions?

Richard - Don't feel bad. Both versions are great. I think that Cat Power is a genius interpreter of song, and that her ability in that respect far exceeds her songwriting gifts (though she occasionally gets that just right, too).

Joel Taylor - Teeber, Teeber, Teeber, when will you learn not to question my judgement on matters of tenderness. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy Bowie's version. You know I like a slow groove and an impossible falsetto more than the next guy. But compared directly with the other two versions, it pales in emotional impact. There is a distance here that doesn't exist in the other renditions. Bowie's is a wall as opposed to a window. And though I appreciate your point about the "You're life itself/Your life is hell" ambiguity (I hadn't noticed that, but yes, you're right), I think it's exactly that kind of intellectual playfulness and self-consciousness that alienates. Now, I don't necessarily mind intellectual playfulness, self-concsciousness, alienation or distancing in music - I just don't think those qualities play into the particular strengths of this composition or these lyrics. On its own, I do enjoy it, but judged against the other two versions, I have to join Richard in the "meh" chorus.

if you can, check out the live version that Cat Power sings. Chan Marshall adds a bunch of "you you you's" to the song that just makes it about ten times better

Jordan---you asked about other versions of this track. Anna-Lisa Kirby and Lu Campbell both recorded it in 1998, and George Michael did a rendition in 1999. Don't worry---none of those versions trump what you already posted. In short, the three I just mentioned pretty much suck.

There's a great version by Shirley Horn. She coupled "Wild..." with "Come a little closer" . On the strange/weird side (read "free mind side" here), you've got the Patty Waters version.

Thank you so much for posting this. I was overjoyed when I saw it. I originally fell in love with "Wild is the Wind" through the Bowie version (I love the detachment; it may be colder and crazier, but it's relevant, a part of modern love). As far as covers go, this song affords the artist versatility, intimacy, an opportunity for the ultimate expression of their soul (be it detached like Bowie's, or sad and quiet like Cat Power's, or tragic and meandering like Jeff Buckley's, or powerful and passionate like Nina Simone's).

I love this song, what a good post.

Farbus: I won't argue with that. I'll just stubbornly maintain a diametrically opposed viewpoint. My lifesteez: arrogance.
PS Sean: Reconstrue this as a commentary on your review of the Tom Waits track.

In this song David Bowie is sensitively singing to his lover with an existential plea to her "you touch me" "with your kiss my life begins" "Don't you know it's life itself" etc. etc.

From a psychological perspective the lover her plaintively sings this has lost his perceived and needed attachment to his lover. For without her it seems he can't exist.....such as "Wild is the Wind" explains in these lyrics so well.

The sense of abandonment that I find so poignant in this song really gives me a reminder of what it was like when I was once in that very position myself and experienced such a feeling of despair. I felt that I could not longer live with out my lover and therefore felt my existence at the time was intolerable.

But like most people I got on with it and did live to see another day. After crying many times to this very song!!!

I find "Wild with the Wind" really cathartic when I am in such a miserable situation....

But then again I love this song too as it is classic Bowie.....which he is for all time.......just too brilliant.

by Cazcat