Talk:The Man I Love (song)

Removal of cover versions

This article had all mentions of covers removed. Although I agree that an exhaustive list is not needed nor is it desired, but this list of 20 or so artists, especially containing the likes of Billie Holiday, Miles Davis or Sarah Vaughan, was not overdone and showed only that this piece of work was important enough to be covered by major artists. Also, the fact that Kate Bush's version was chosen to be the single for The Glory of Gershwin album makes it essential and it keeps the artist's singles infobox going. Since the « rule » is When a song has been recorded or performed by more than one artist, a particular artist's rendition should be included in the song's article (never in a separate article), I believe these edits should be reverted to 1 October 2021‎'s version. JeanPaulGRingault (talk) 15:33, 11 October 2021 (UTC)

Reverted article to its former glory. JeanPaulGRingault (talk) 01:04, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

JeanPaulGRingault, that's not very glorious. I'm not going to cut that list, pending more discussion, but it's not pretty--especially given the preponderance of primary/unreliable sources. Binksternet, Toddst1, Vmavanti, y'all may have some thoughts. Drmies (talk) 01:09, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

I agree the list could be cleaned up but to dismiss it completely weakens this page. JeanPaulGRingault (talk) 01:16, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

@JeanPaulGRingault: Besides Kate Bush's version (thanks for the chart position), which entry(ies) do you think pass WP:COVERSONG and how? Toddst1 (talk) 01:59, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

Frankly Toddst1, I'm no expert on Gershwin and I do not have books or articles on hand to do this work nor would I have the time to do so. I arrived here through The Glory Of Gershwin page and I was saddened to see the article cut this way. By adding the banner for verification instead of removing the info, I think, is the way to go...Build on what is there instead of deleting. Thank you all for being so civil in this discussion, does not always happen this way. JeanPaulGRingault (talk) 18:58, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

Jean Paul, thank you for your response. Per WP:SONGCOVER, if it isn't clear why a cover is notable, it should not be included. Since it's clear that the problem will not be addressed anytime soon, I'll remove the entries that don't belong. They can be restored one-by-one if we can demonstrate that they meet the criteria. Toddst1 (talk) 19:40, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

This is an American songbook type of song, usually Ella, Frank, Nat, will cover, but male singers may have had a problem adapting this to "The Woman I Love". The composition is remarkable, needs some research to see who attempted it. Nothing wrong with 10-15 covers, but there might not be that many that qualify. I vote for Billie, Marion Harris (1927 - best version to my ears). Tillywilly17 (talk) 03:44, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

Well, we don't vote on whether WP:COVERSONG applies to your favorite songs/versions. Toddst1 (talk) 03:54, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

We editors are here to look at the sources to determine which covers are the most important to the topic. Chart success or specific praise from WP:SECONDARY sources should be the only leverage to get someone's version listed. Look for sources that say someone's version was superlative for this or that reason, and then you can summarize the source and cite it. There's no reason to count to 10 or 15 and stop; the digital page is large enough to contain all the significant cover versions that are discussed in the media. But if sources are lacking then there's no reason to artificially inflate the list with unremarkable album tracks. Binksternet (talk) 03:56, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

In addition to what Binksternet has politely explained, mere listings in a discography is explicitly mentioned in WP:COVERSONG which governs this section. Perhaps those opposing the removal could read that before commenting further and cluttering up this talk page with votes and laundry lists of discography mentions. Toddst1 (talk) 04:47, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

Do we want to mention that this song is sung by Valeria Golino 29:00 minutes into the comedy movie Hot Shots? FortKnoxSC (talk) 01:36, 20 November 2023 (UTC)