Who wore it best?

Throbbing Gristle "Persuasion"

vs.

Billie Ray Martin "Persuasion (SpookyBillie's Ventriloquist Mix)"

(This post marks the start of a regular fourfour feature, a side-by-side comparison of covers and otherwise related songs. Hopefully it'll be trashy enough to live up to the tabloid-spun, "Who wore it best?" name.)

Why didn't anyone tell me that Billie Ray Martin is a pornographer?!?

Heh, not really, but she did play one on record. I sort of freaked out a few months ago when I discovered (thanks, Bradford!) that Billie Ray Martin, best known in the U.S. for the '90s dance radio hit "Your Loving Arms," covered Throbbing Gristle, the antagonistic, ugly and absurd London collective that sprouted from a performance-art group (COUM Transmissions). For six years (1975-1981), TG spilled blood, had onstage sex, invoked Nazi propaganda, reveled in noise and invented the term (if not what came to be the accepted definition of) "industrial music." Why didn't anyone tell me that this white girl with a gigantic voice covered one of my favorite happy-to-be soulless acts ever?

It's that divide -- Billie Ray's commitment to emotion and TG's aversion of it -- that makes the different takes on "Persuasion" so fascinating. Reportedly written on the spot at a TG show in Notting Hill in 1979 ("I just started singing about persuasion and they figured out what to play," recalled TG mastermind and genderfucker Genesis P-Orridge), the lyrics sort of creepily meander around until P-Orridge drops the slow, trance-like singing to spit out the projected outcome of the persuasion: "What difference does it make if I take your photograph? / What difference does it make if someone else sees it too? . . . I mean, these magazines, you know / They only go to middle aged men." Ha!

"Persuasion" is not just a great example if Throbbing Gristle's blood-black humor, it's also testament to the group's TG's fascination with sex (the term "throbbing gristle" originated as Yorkshire slang for a hard-on) and pornography's representation (the sole female member, Cosi Fanni Tutti, appeared in porn pictorials, which were gathered and displayed in a gallery for the moral-panic-causing "Prostitution" exhibit in England in 1976). The above-posted, album version of the song, from 1979's 20 Jazz Funk Greats, superimposes P-Orridge's deadpan, barely melodic delivery with clips of squeals and screams. Is this persuasion or coercion we're talking about? To help tie everything up in as confusing of a package as possible, P-Orridge later would call "Persuasion" his version of "Frank Sinatra cabaret music." I know Old Blue Eyes was pervy, but this pervy?

In Billie Ray's cover, it's as though she's playing both sides of the admittedly thin fence -- the persuasive and coercive sides -- with her alternately strong and desperate delivery. Her version is devoid of the original's squeals and screams, because her vocals say enough -- she's the pornographer and the porn star. While remaining frightfully faithful to the original (a lesser revisionist would have chopped off that spoken passage, if only because your typical singer's singer doesn't do extended spoken diatribes), Billie Ray also picks up P-Orridge's melodic slack, writing in more notes to wrap her lungs around. She freaks out exactly when she should -- the emotional peak of her performance comes when the song reaches its high point of absurdity: "I've got a little biscuit tin to keep your panties in." It's as though she's desperately flailing to provide some sort of comfort to the person she's trying to exploit, whereas when P-Orridge sings the same line, you get the feeling that he just wants to get crumbs on a crotch for perversion's sake.

On top of everything: they said "panties!"

Billie Ray's cover is entirely bold, and not just for the gender-play that P-Orridge would love (I mean love -- careful with the link, though, as it's not really safe for work or human consumption). Following the disbandment of her first really public musical act, Electribe 101, this was her first solo single, released in 1993. Way to set the bar with creepy porno longing, Billie! (It should be noted that I'm posting this remix because it's more minimal and it fits the frigid, electronic pulse of the TG original better -- the original mix of Billie's track is a bit more cluttered and, in my opinion, a lot less effective).

So who wore it best?

I'm give this one to TG, if only by a margin, for keeping things nasty all around. Billie's heart's on display, and you can't knock her for it, but I get the feeling she's never used the word "gonzo" before. TG, on the other hand, lived that shit.

Comments

[Hethz]

I've totally played this game with "Spinning Wheel" as recorded by both Blood, Sweat and Tears and by the fabulicious Peggy Lee. Peggy Lee won.

[jeremy]

you blow my mind.
how deep your crates be, boy?
p.s. i'm thinking of sending you an xmas present--not to spoil it or anything but do you have that jean-paul gaultier re-mixed by danny tenaglia 12"?

[jeremy]

p.s.s. my vote goes to billy ray only cuz p-orridge creeps my shit.

[John H.]

Was never one of my favorite BRM tracks, but I admired the concept. Shame that her later stuff got little attention until Junior Vasquez was called back aboard. I miss Billie's voice! Her 18 Carat Garbage had more worth than some divas' entire back catalogues.

[Sunny Bunny]

Glad to see you doing more music related posts again. I love the top Model, Bobby Brown,etc recaps and the Kitty posts and the miscellaneous commentary and stuff, but I started checking your blog out a while back because of your music posts. You're really awesome!

[moss]

Throbbing Gristle creeps me out. I got schooled today. But I didn't like it.

[Donald]

Actually, Billie recorded "Persuasion" with Electribe 101 for their unreleased second album. I think that's her best version. She my girl.

you need to hear the Trance Europe Express mix (on I Tunes) it's the version i heard first and nothing has compared to date ....

[Price ticket board]

What a great article Bert. One of the worst things about this recession is how so many good workers like you, folks with ambition and diligence, how been sidelined.

[plastic holder]

We live near the end of a winding mile-long lane through woods with few other houses. If it weren't raining out right now I'd be included to walk down the lane with pumping in hand to scare the bejeebies out of any kids who dared to be out trick or treating.

[display wobbler]

When you have a black cat, every day is Halloween. I enjoyed this and I have to admit I would not miss the holiday if it disappeared in the states, too. It lost its charm when the litte fun size candy bars appeared. Cheap!