I didn't discover that Jerry Reed wrote Guitar Man until recently. Before I became a fan of his back catalogue, I only really knew Reed from his role as Cledus "Snowman" Snow in Smokey & The Bandit (for which he also wrote and sung the theme tune, East Bound & Down). As well as being an actor, Reed was a successful singer and guitarist, but he arguably found the most mainstream success as a songwriter, scoring hits for Elvis and Johnny Cash, among others. Let's face it, once Elvis has had hits with a couple of your tunes. life probably becomes a lot easier.
Here's Jerry's original version of Guitar Man.
And here's Elvis's version, the one most people recognise.
My first exposure to the song was in the early 90s though, when it was included on a charity compilation of Elvis covers released by the NME, called The Last Temptation of Elvis. There are some mighty fine covers on this two disc set, including The Pogues doing Got A Lot O'Livin' To Do, Fuzzbox with Trouble and You're So Square by The Primitives. The set leads off with Bruce's version of Viva Las Vegas, which is OK... but I always preferred the ZZ Top cover.
However, my favourite track on that compilation was the Jesus & Mary Chain doing Guitar Man. An unusual choice for the band in question, since it's such an upbeat song with a real pop tune... unlike most of their own material. They make it typically JAMC though - lots of feedback! - and while I'm not saying it's better than Elvis or Jerry... it's definitely a contender.
