I remember when I was little, my cousin Joe (go figure) and I would go down into my grandparents basement and play their old 8 track cassettes. Most of these were groups and songs of the 40's 50's and 60's (This was in the early 1970's). We would jump all over the furniture, singing at the top of our lungs to songs from days gone by. Until fairly recently the only song I remember from those days was "The Leader of the Pack" by the Shangri La's.
While working this past summer in a retail store in Canyon Village at Yellowstone National Park there was a station that played old songs always playing in the background and another Shangri La's song came on and those old memories came flooding back to me. I found myself starting to sing along to "Remember (Walking in the Sand) also by the Shangri-La's just like I did with my cousin Joe down in the G'Parent's basement.
Not quite halfway through the song I had to do a double take. After all of these years I never realized that this was also one of my favorite songs by Aerosmith from their Night in the Ruts album. I played that record every day for like a year and it never dawned on me that this was the same song.
I know I used to sing the Shangri-La's version of it in my grandparents basement with my cousin all those years ago but I never put two and two together. Although admittedly when I was in my teens and listening to the Aerosmith version I was typically hopped up on something or another (C'mon people, this was the 80s).
So which version of this song do you like best?
The original Shangri La's version?
Or the cool and hip Aerosmith version?
For this kid it's still the Aerosmith version.
What's your vote?
Introducing a new tag and hope it gains some traction... #originalvscover