Come Rain Or Come Shine: The Debate!!
It started out innocently enough, John and I were talking about the current state of my dating life and about relationships and we ventured into the murky waters of significant songs and lovers. Well I made the comment that for every man I have deeply loved there is at least one Barbra Streisand song that I associate with him. In John's case it was Barbra's rendition of the song "Come Rain or Come Shine". His response, "Well at least there was 'come' in there somewhere." He's such a perv, is it any wonder I adore him still? 
It was the nest line that got us in trouble. He followed his "come" statement with, "And you know that the best rendition in the world is Judy's don't you?" (BTW he's referring to the Carnegie Hall concert, which was Garland's greatest performance.) To this I laughed (big mistake) and "No, no, no. Barbra's version was WAY better than Judy's, I'm sorry. Barbra's had passion and slow sensuality with these great vocal jumps. Judy's was just drunk and hammy."
You can guess his reaction: "WHAT!?! I can't believe you just said that!"
And thus began an interesting debate, who's version is better? Judy's or Barbra's? He claims Judy's has passion and genuine emotional delivery, where as I said that Barbra's (which he hasn't heard) has the same thing except more so and with raw sensuality. is sensual. It has these great guitars and piano that then erupt into these vocal expanses. Judy's is too cheesy and show tune-ish, and starts out with bongos like a Ricky Ricardo's nightclub act. Don't get me wrong I love Judy, but there were just certain songs she didn't do well. This one of them. And in true fairness the same applies to Barbra.
I said to him, "Judy's just didn't do it for me. I am a dramatic person, especially where love is concerned and Barbra is a dramatic performer. Her version is like me, it just grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you and makes you understand that I'm going to be around no matter what and at the same time conveys the volcanic sexuality bubbling beneath the urgency of the message."
He was stunned and said, "I just don't know what to say. I have to regroup. I can't imagine there is a better version than Judy's." To which I replied, "Well I'll play Barbra's version for you." He was like, "I refuse to listen to it! I can't diminish the memory of such perfection by even considering another version!"
I laughed and before I could say too much more my cell began frantically beeping at me, signally the end of its battery life. So there you have it.
Now, I pose the question to you all. Which version is better? Is it Judy's version or Barbra's version? Listen for yourselves and get back to me. I think I may just construct a poll about this later...
