Country Club 44: Bobby Womack's Country Song

This is an unexpected post. Bobby Womack, the great R&B singer, guitarist, and song writer, died yesterday at age 70. I remembered that the Rolling Stones, early in their career, covered "It's All Over Now," a song Womack wrote and recorded with his group the Valentinos. When I pulled it up on Youtube, I was surprised at how country it sounded and wondered if any country artists had also covered it. It turns out that Waylon Jennings and John Anderson had. So here is Jennings and Anderson, followed by the Valentinos and the Rolling Stones.




Here's the original by the Valentinos. There's a definite country tinge.




The country tinge was even more pronounced in the Rolling Stones cover, captured here as part of the legendary TAMI concert film.



Here's a little confirmation for my hearing this as a country tune. Steve Huey in the allmusic.com bio notes

Womack pushed UA into letting him do a full album of country music, something he'd always loved but which the label regarded as commercially inadvisable (especially under the title Womack reportedly wanted to use: Step Aside, Charley Pride, Give Another Nigger a Try). They eventually relented ... BW Goes C&W met with predictably minimal response,

Rebirth Bass Band, despite everything above, makes a strong case that it's really a R&B song, after all.