Joan Jett - "Crimson and Clover" (the song remains the same)

In honor of Pride Month, I'm featuring Joan Jett's 1981 cover of "Crimson and Clover" (from her second LP).  Joan hasn't actually come out, but she's an LGBTQ icon regardless.  Even though I didn't know about that in 1981 (who did?), I remember liking this song immediately.  I'm pretty sure I heard her version before the original, 1968 version from Tommy James and Shondells but I'm not certain.  And, sure I like the "underwater" / psychedelic original too, but Joan's version rawks, with those delicious power chords.

Why this song for Pride Month instead of others from her?  First, unlike in her cover of "I Love Rock and Roll"*, she does not change the gender of the love interest ("Ah, now I don't hardly know her / But I think I can love her).  Why did she keep the gender in one cover song but not the other? In retrospect, perhaps this was a clue.

Second, it's not like she was a purist; she did change the lyrics in C&C, and in the process made it 100X better.  Tommy James and The Shondells:

Yeah, my mind's such a sweet thing
I wanna do everything

What a beautiful feeling
Crimson and clover, over and over

Joan Jett and The Blackhearts:

Yeah, I'm not such a sweet thing
I wanna do everything
What a beautiful feeling
Crimson and clover, over and over

Perhaps TJ&TS couldn't get away with that line in 1968, but can we all agree that Joan's change of that one improves the rest of the stanza?

Tommy James and The Shondells - studio LP version, studio single version, live 1995,

Joan Jett and The Blackhearts - studio version, 1983 (live?, probably lip-synched), 2007(?) live version




* As per my previous post, "I Love Rock & Roll" is still a stupid song that even Joan can't redeem.


Bonus images: quick, name a rock artist other than Joan Jett who looks better, and not just by a little bit, some 25+ years after they first made it big.  Swapping the big hair for a buzz cut and ditching the one-piece coverall is a big part of it, but still...

Joan ca. 1983, as New York Dolls refugee:

Joan ca. 2007, as punk matriarch:

Any questions?