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Re: Pretenders on Apostilic Friends Forum
ScootHutchinson, that Orbison guy is a Pretender. As I said, the Platters are the original pretenders!
The Great Pretender
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“The Great Pretender”
Single by The Platters
Released November 3, 1955
Format 7"
Recorded 1955
Genre Rhythm and blues
Length 2:36
Label Mercury Records
Writer(s) Buck Ram
Producer Buck Ram
"The Great Pretender" is a popular song recorded by The Platters and released as a single on November 3, 1955. The words and music were created by Buck Ram, the Platters' manager and producer who was a successful songwriter before moving into producing and management. The Great Pretender reached the #1 position in 1956. It is one of three Platters records included on the American Graffiti soundtrack.
Cover versions
* It was covered in 1984 by Dolly Parton, who made it the title song of an album of covers from the 1950s and 1960s (The Great Pretender)
* There is also a cover by Roy Orbison and a soulful cover from Sam Cooke
* Pat Boone covered it on Moody River album in 1961
* The song was also repopularized in 1987 by Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen, reaching #4 on the UK Singles Chart.
* The Band covered it on Moondog Matinee, an album of covers.
* Perhaps most radically, it was tackled by Lester Bowie and extended to nearly seventeen minutes of improvisation on his album of the same name.
* E of the Eels covered it during a 1992-94 tour
* Gene Summers included "The Great Pretender" on his 1997 CD "The Ultimate School Of Rock & Roll".
* It was covered by the all-star blue grass ensemble Old and in the Way, which included Jerry Garcia, and was released on their 1996 album, "That High Lonesome Sound".
* The Statler Brothers covered the song twice in their last album before retiring, The Farewell Concert. They covered it once as their version and once more the way it was originally released.
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