Suicide had a singular electronic sound back when electronic sounds were fairly rare. What made the music work, however, wasn’t so much their sound as fact of the New York and rock ‘n’ roll attitude they brought to it. In this trancy music there are echoes of Phil Spector and the Everlys and the NY Dolls, harmonies from the Brill Building and of course the long shadow of the Velvet Underground.
Then, some many years later, Bruce Springsteen himself saw fit to do his own version with the E Street Band, which turns it from a loving back alley incantation to an epic inspirational hymn, something Pete Seeger could probably get behind.
Then there is this:
Sweet! I get the feeling Springsteen never heard this version. Maybe more reminiscent of Roy Orbison than the Everlys.