Friday, October 7, 2011

The Soul Corner - "Devil With a Blue Dress" Shorty Long; and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels

We had another thing planned, but the fantastic series clinching win by the Tigers over the Yankees sends us back to Detroit.

Shorty Long's "Devil With A Blue Dress" (1964) is not one of Motown's most famous or best selling releases, but certainly one of its bluesiest with one of its slinkiest grooves ever.


She's looking so fine, "The cats are too nervous to even say hi":



Of course another Detroiter (Hamtramck actually) made the song famous in 1966 with what I consider one of the greatest rock'n'roll versions of a soul song of all time. But somehow You Tube does not have a version up there that I consider worthy of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels' or WYMA's standards. But you know it, or if not, should know it and should rush out and go buy a copy.

Though I did find this version honoring the Mitch Ryder arrangement as part of a show-stopping medley done in 1979 at the No Nukes concert by another rocker you might know:

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