"Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," Bette Midler (1973)

Peak: #8 on the Hot 100
Streams: 5.9 million

Without question, The Andrews Sisters have the definitive version of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” the jump blues track they recorded for the 1941 Abbott and Costello film Buck Privates. Their recording reached #6 on the pre-Hot 100 singles chart, and it currently has over 30 million streams on Spotify. That’s pretty damn impressive for an 82 year-old song that isn’t about Christmas.

But y’all? I actually prefer Bette Midler’s cover.

For me, Midler’s record better reflects the spirit of the tune. This is a song about an Army trumpet player who gets his whole company hoppin’ when he blows the hell out of Reveille. Bette’s version — which is produced by Barry Manilow — has the jittery energy you want for a tale like that. That skittering drum line pairs perfectly with the double-time vocal. By the time we reach the bridge, which that hot horn blaring, I cannot keep still. I’m writing this while I sit on my bed, and my foot is bouncing along to the rhythm. I’m imagining people swing dancing, because of course I am. By comparison, The Andrews Sisters’ version sounds positively sedate.

Nor does their version have implied naughtiness. Meanwhile, Bette Midler’s cover was her first national single, released after she’d cut her teeth performing at gay bath houses in New York City. The songs gains a naughty second meaning when you imagine her singing it to a roomful of gay men who have taken a break from their evening activities to hear a brassy dame belt a tune while Manilow accompanied her on the piano. (This is true. He really did play the bath houses with her.) Suddenly, those lines about blowing horns have a brand new meaning!

Like everything else from the beginning of her career, that gives Bette’s record a subversive gloss, perceptible only to the people who knew her history. I love that. It takes a great tune and makes it even more interesting.