Vintage Wine Bonus #2: Red Red Wine

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Since everyone probably thought this would be the #1 song I thought I’d better pour a glass of it as a bonus. No, it’s not #1. It didn’t even make the top ten! What kind of sick red (wine) commie am I? However, since nearly everyone is probably expecting this song, here it is! Bonus #2: Red Red Wine One of Neil Diamond’s bombs as a single in the 60s eventually became covered and famous enough to buy Neil a vineyard or two. Diamond recorded this on the second of his two albums for Bang Records (before going to Uni/MCA). It was released as a single on Bang (overdubbed without any input from Diamond, per Picky Wedia), and it went over like Boones Farm at a shardenay tasting event. Then people started covering it. Country singer Roy Drusky had a top 20 country hit with it. A Jamaican singer named Tony Tribe put a reggae beat behind it in 1969, which was the genesis of the version. In 1983 British group UB40 covered the song. According to Wikipedia (this is hilarious to me), the band didn’t have a clue that the “N. Diamond” listed as songwriter on the Tony Tribe record was Neil Diamond. They released the song twice, once in 1983 and the extended version in 1988 (with the “red red wine, you make me feel so fine” rap that had been edited out of the first single put back in). It’s the song that UB40 is known for, a far cry from the heartbreaking ballad that Diamond originally recorded in 1968. Red Red Wine Written by Neil Diamond Recorded by Neil Diamond From Just For You, 1968 Famously covered by UB40 From Labour of Love, 1983 Since you’re probably familiar with the UB40 version, here’s Diamond’s original: