Stu Reid Under The Covers: Female Voices Take On Sam Cooke's "Cupid"

I wrote a couple days ago about Melanie Fiona - I think she's one of my favorite up and coming singers, and I'm excited to hear lots of good stuff coming out of her camp. One of my favorite tracks on her recent collaboration with ?uestlove and the Illadelphonics is her cover of Sam Cooke's "Cupid," so I thought it would be a good time for a Stu Reid Under The Covers.

"Cupid" is a fantastic song that has been covered by a myriad of artists over the last 50 years - notably Johnny Nash, Graham Parker, Colin Meloy, and Otis Redding. The versions I want to share today, though, come from female singers - Fiona and Amy Winehouse, along with a great live version of the original.

Winehouse's version is from a Radio One compilation that dropped in 2007 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Radio One, and it's definitely one of the standout tracks on that already good compilation. Winehouse's voice does the song justice, and the horns in the background are great.

Amy Winehouse - Cupid (Sam Cooke Cover) (YSI) (filesavr)

Fiona's is a sparser arrangement, which works really well - the track features a solo lightly picked guitar backing her smooth pipes, centering the song on the vocals where the focus belongs. The more I listen to this version, the more I like it.

Melanie Fiona - Cupid (Sam Cooke Cover) (YSI) (filesavr)

Nobody can do it quite like Cooke did it, though, and this live version from his 1963 show Live at the Harlem Square Club proves that unquestionably. The album that this track comes from is one of the most highly regarded soul albums around (read some more about it here) and you can clearly see why. God I love this track.

Sam Cooke - Cupid (YSI) (filesavr)

Enjoy!