One Less Bell To Answer - Which version is your favorite?

Here's Dionne....

And here's the 5th Dimension....

The 5th Dimension version is timeless; I like RC, but it just doesn't compare. There's just such heartache in the 5D version. Even today, when I'm feeling sad or after a breakup (when I used to care about such things) those lyrics "I should be happy, but all I do is cry" still bring tears to my eyes.

Here's Dionne....

The 5th Dimension, hands down.

Here is Streisand's version along with A House Is Not a Home

Keely had the first shot at it in 1967

The 5th Dimension - it's perfection and R3 has it right. The Streisand version is typical Barbra - all about her and not the song.

All hail Marilyn McCoo and the backup vocals/harmonizing of the 5th Dimension.

🎵Extra value is what you get when you buy Coronet🎶

Bacharach is not a good match for Rosemary Clooney's signing style..

Dionne could have been so much better than she is here. She probably wanted to keep it different from the McCoo version but it's not up to her usual greatness.

I agree with R8 about Babs.

Keely Smith's is interpretation is wonderful. Has sort of forlorn housewife feel. How cool would it have been to hear her singing this in a supper club.

But it's clearly the 5th dimension for the win.

Note McCoo's exquisite phrasing. She turns the song into a one act play.

And that swanky orchestration is what we want to hear from a Bacharach song.

As a general rule, I always prefer Dionne’s version of a Bacharach song, but this one belongs to Marilyn.

The rest of them are just also rans.

I wonder if those of us who grew up with the 5th Dimension’s version are biased because we’re so accustomed to it; I’m finding now I still prefer it.

Dionne’s version is fine. A distant second to Marilyn McCoo. I appreciate that despite how powerful Dionne’s voice could be she never felt the need to belt it out with this tune.

Never was a fan of Rosemary Clooney. Her singing here does nothing to change my mind. A song I’ve always found heartbreaking becomes merely … I don’t know, just a brief sad moment in her hands.

As for Barbra, I love her. But the duet treatment by the Barbras pushes this tune into melodrama territory. Had she sung it without backing herself, it might have been much nicer.

That said—and I don’t mean to be uncharitable—I just find it hard to believe Barbra has fried an egg or picked up after a man in the past fifty years. So I had to chuckle when those words escaped her lips.

5th Dimension for the win. It is a perfect fit for Marilyn's voice and she sings the hell out of it.

Anyone who says that Streisand's version isn't the best is just lying. Her vocals are on a completely different level than the others. No one can touch that voice and interpretive ability.

Definitely Marilyn McCoo. You just feel the heartbreak in her voice without all the Streisand histrionics.

When the Fifth Dimension started out, they were truly an ensemble , with hits like "Up, Up and Away", "Stoned Soul Picnic" and "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In". But with "Wedding Bell Blues", "One Less Bell To Answer", "I Didn't Get To Sleep At All", etc, it really became Marilyn McCoo and the Fifth Dimension. Yet she never asked for that billing. Same thing with David Gates and Bread. Any others?

^ Diana Ross and The Supremes. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.