Renee Fladen

This is one of my all-time favorite songs, and one of the more beautiful tunes ever done. It was written by Left Banke keyboardist/main songwriter Michael Brown (who was 16 at the time!) about the then girlfriend of bassist Tom Finn.

I didn't realize there were many recordings of it either.....alot of them very good.

The original is the best. I love the buildup of the drums right before the chorus - kind of a heavy counterpoint to an otherwise gentle song.

The Four Tops' version is also excellent. Levi puts the right kind of pain into the lead.

The Cowsills' and Marshall Crenshaw's versions are live. Quite good, but not really contenders.

Haven't heard the others, although I'd love to hear Frankie Valli's version.

The original is great, but I have a special affinity for the Southside Johnny version, so that's who got my vote. If I may be nit-picky, that song was released by "Southside Johnny & The Jukes", not "The Asbury Jukes". Also love Billy Bragg's version, but it's not quite the best.

Love the original (and several others mentioned here), but Eric Carmen's is the one I play.

+1

The Left Banke.
I'm with Charles in that this is one of my all time faves. It defines"heartbreaking" for me as far as records go.
I like The Cowsills version as well.

Linda Ronstadt and Ann Savoy. Always sends a chill up my spine. And "Adieu False Heart" was a such a great album.

No votes for Angel ?

I voted for the Four Tops, but have never heard the Eric Carmen version and am intrigued it has multiple votes. Must go Youtube it now.

Doesn't seem to be on Youtube, alas. Now I'm really curious to hear it.

If I knew how, I'd be happy to send it to you.

A dead heat between the Left Banke and Southside Johnny. I threw some love to the latter.

Vonda Shepard does a really nice version of this, too. I'd probably rank it right behind the Eric Carmen and Left Banke versions. The only song I can immediately think of with more good versions to choose from is "I Only Want to Be With You."

Billy Bragg with Duane Tremolo on acoustic guitar.

Always had a soft spot for this live version by folk-rock duo Lowen & Navarro:

http://www.lownav.com/music/had.html

Can't beat the original by The Left Banke, what a great song, as is Pretty Ballerina. Love that 2 CD comp There's Gonna Be A Storm.

Vonda Shepard's version is really good. Rickie Lee Jones' is good, but she throws in those hard piano chords at the intro, middle, and outro that detract from it (reminds me of a Joni Mitchell song from Court and Spark), and she plays the wrong chord at the end of the verses, ugh. Rick Price's is good (don't know who he is) until he goes into falsetto.

I only remember hearing the original, so no vote at the moment. I'd likely enjoy the RLJ. I've seen the 4 Tops listed on cd covers, but don't remember playing it.

Yes, Geff, you would like the RLJ. That's the one that gets my vote. But it's such a great song I don't think I've heard a bad version.

Thought I might be the only one voting for Southside. Nice to see that wasn't the case.

I also went with Southside.

Nice. That puts him in second place, behind the original (which certainly deserves to be #1).