Battle of the Bands with the DO YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN BATTLE OF THE SEXES

It’s mid-month already! How did that happen? It seems it’s been happening more and more lately, this flyin’ time thing. I find myself saying “Stop the bus! I wanna get off!” … I just want to take minute and breathe. Do you know what I mean?

So I’m going to grab that minute while I can. After dealing with one crisis after another over here I need to take a break. I’m going to pull back from blogging for a few months, at least until after the New Year. Today’s battle, the culmination of my Do You Know What I Mean Battle of the Sexes, will be my last for 2018.

So let’s talk about this battle: One of those crises mentioned above caused me to miss posting the Results for the Female round earlier in the month. Let me fill you in on how that ended. If you were following the comments, you might already know how it ended: Between Gwen McRae and Genya Raven, poor Gwen took a thumpin’. The battle was nearly a shutout but for the vote cast for Gwen by John. Genya Raven handily captured the win in the Female round with a 9 to 1 final tally (including my vote).

And now we have our final duel in declaring the best cover of Lee Michaels’ hit song “Do You Know What I Mean.” Will it be the version with male vocals or female vocals? While I think most will agree that no one does it better than the original recording artist. After all, Lee Michaels, who wrote, performed and produced the song, took it to #6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #4 on the Cash Box Top 100 in the summer of 1971. The song also closed the year with an impressive finish garnering a rank of #19 on Billboard’s Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1971.

You’ll get to decide which sex does it better as we kick off this Do You Know What I Mean Battle of the Sexes as our two finalists take the stage. First up is the male contender:

 Contender #1:  Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys

As a quick reminder: Kevin Naquin is a Cajun accordion player in south Louisiana from Ossun, Louisiana. Naquin is the lead singer and accordion player in the Cajun band Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys. In 2000, he won the CFMA – 2000 Album of the Year with his album “Pour La Premiere Fois” and CFMA – 2000 Song of the Year. He has recorded with Swallow Records and Bayou Groove Productions. He released a version of this song on his 2014 album, No Guarantee.

 

And here is this battle’s female contender:

Contender #2:  Genya Ravan

Genya Ravan, a.k.a. Goldie (born Genyusha Zelkovicz; April 19, 1945) is an American rock singer and producer. She was lead singer of The Escorts, Goldie & the Gingerbreads, and Ten Wheel Drive. In 2013, Genya released an album entitled Cheesecake Girl and this cover of the Lee Michaels hit is from that album:

 

Now it’s up to you to declare the winner in the Battle of the Sexes for Best Cover of Lee Michaels’ “Do You Know What I Mean”.

TIME TO VOTE! Which version gets your vote, the Female contender or the Male contender? 

When you’re done voting, please visit these other BOTB participants and check out their cool battles:

• Stephen T. McCarthy’s Battle of the Bands Blog
• Tossing it Out
• Mike’s Ramblings
• Curious as a Cathy 
• The Sound of One Hand Typing
• THE DOGLADY’S DEN 
• Jingle Jangle Jungle 
• Cherdo on the Flipside

Thanks for your participation and your votes! Voting will be open until midnight on November 22nd and I’ll post results shortly thereafter. Until then, Rock On my friends…