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Month: November 2019

Lucinda Williams vs. Mary Chapin Carpenter: Who did “Passionate Kisses” better?

BrianWilkins.org
November 23, 2019

Mary Chapin Carpenter version

Lucinda Williams version

Hung Jury

Lucinda Williams wrote the song. It was a track on her eponymous third studio album released in 1988.

The song didn’t chart in the States for whatever reason. “Passionate Kisses” reached #169 on the Aussie charts in 1989. That was the extent of its commercial success. There was/is no music video for the song. That may have contributed to its relative anonymity in the last few years of the MTV MUSIC TELEVISION era.

Mary Chapin Carpenter added her own sugar and spice to “Passionate Kisses” in 1993. The song was suddenly ubiquitous, just four years after the Lucinda Williams original. It reached #4 on the U.S. Hot Country Singles chart, and #57 on the Billboard Hot 100. Chapin Carpenter won a Grammy in 1994 for Best Female Country Vocal Performer. Williams won a Grammy that year as well for Best Country Song. read more

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