I've listened to all three version of the song this morning. First time I've heard the Goodman original. If we could put Willie's voice with Arlo's guitar work it would be perfect. Willie's voice has a maturity that Arlo just doesn't have, by comparison he sounds like a kid, IMO. Kind of like a 20yr old, trying to sing Delta Blues, it just doesn't work.
The LP version of Alice's makes my point. But what you call the end all version has the distraction of the female narrator that I find annoying. There is a much more recent video of Arlo and Alice's that I think is much better. I will look for it, later.
Edit: I can't find the version I remember but here is the 2005 Farm Aid version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yLg_bzwvxg
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