Why is this lyric comparison on a website devoted to Danish Folk Costumes? Because I have no other website on which to put it. The writing below is my own analysis and should be copied only with attribution. My opinions are subjective and are my own. You are free to disagree.

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Links to YouTube Videos of the Various Versions of "Tainted Love"​

Gloria Jones 1964

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Ruth Swann 1975 (audio only)

In interviews, Soft Cell's Marc Almond has implied that Soft Cell were more influenced by Ruth Swann's version than that of Gloria Jones.​

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Soft Cell 1981​

Unfortunately, when you Google "Soft Cell Tainted Love" the first hit on Google is NOT the hit version that went to #1 in 17 countries. Instead, it is "Tainted Love '91," which was far less successful, and not nearly as good.​

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Analysis

Tainted Love was written by Ed Cobb. His lyrics were presumably reflected in the original 1964 Gloria Jones, and then modified by Ruth Swann (real name: Jill Saward) and Soft Cell. Cobb is credited as the producer on the 1964 release, so we can assume that the arrangement is his own. There is no "Ed Cobb demo" track, so we'll never know what the song sounded like before he sat down with Jones to presumably tweak the arrangement and melody.

Cobb was an American, not a Brit, and the 1964 track was recorded in L.A. However, he seems to have been aiming to record the track in a style of high energy using brass instruments. IMHO, that was not a great call. Also, his and Jones' melody was flawed and was improved upon massively by Dave Ball. I don't see Ball getting any credit for this in the media, but he should. Whomever decided to sing Cobb's lyrics with an, at times, different melody and/or cadence took an adequate song and made it a timeless classic that will be played for centuries.

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In a way, Cobb is like Burt Bacharach, writing adequate yet poorly-arranged songs only to see them turned into smash hits by more skilled arrangers (see "Always Something to Remind Me" by Naked Eyes, and "Close to You" by Carpenters). Notably, both of those songs were originally recorded (not well, I might add) by Dionne Warwick.

Tainted Love's 1964 lyrics make more sense than 1975 and 1981 in the phrase "And our love's not right, for I toss and turn I can't sleep at night." Swann changing it to "though" makes no grammatical sense, and Soft Cell's changing it to "I've lost my light" is probably because the phrase "love's not right" rolls a bit awkwardly off the tongue.

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Ruth Swann did at least one thing right by changing "Take not give" to "Take my tears," which was so obviously an improvement that it was copied verbatim by Soft Cell. Clearly Soft Cell had access to both Jones's 1964 version and Swann's 1975 version, as some of their lyrics are 1964 and others are 1975.

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Soft Cell improvements: Marc and Dave appeared not to fret themselves so much about grammar and aimed for words that are singable and roll off the tongue. Thus, we get "Take my tears and that's not really all!," which was a nice touch.

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Ruth Swann Questionable Lyrical Decisions (1975)

There's a few, but why she changed "You don't really want any love from me" to "You don't really want me any love from me," is a total headscratcher.

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Ed Cobb's Worst Lyrical Decisions (1964)

The final stanza sections of Ed Cobb's lyrics (1964) aren't his best.

a. "And who think love is to play" - wisely changed by Soft Cell to "And you..." Why they changed play to pray, we'll never know, as "play" makes a lot of sense, and "pray" doesn't.

b. "I know you a hurt me so" doesn't work, but Ruth Swann made it even worse with her gibberish lyrics. The only positive she introduced was inserting the word "love" which was copied by Soft Cell and massively improved upon with their lyrics which actually make grammatical sense and are singable. Plus, Marc absolutely nailed the vocals. When he sings "Now I'm gonna pack my things and go!" he absolutely crushes the note on "things." According to legend, the vocal track used on the single was actually intended to be a run-through, not a recording. Producer Mike Thorne wisely had the tape running just in case, and the result was lightning in a bottle. A then-Guinness World Record chart run on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 speaks for itself.

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Commentary on the Music

Jones' and Swann's versions musically suffer from a brass-infected (horns?) uptempo beat that just doesn't work. Musically, IMHO, every single change Dave Ball (Soft Cell's songwriter) and producer Mike Thorne made to Tainted Love was for the better. It's as if they had the Midas Touch. Marc has stated in interviews that they were inspired more by Swann's version than by Jones' version, and I think they mean musically, not lyrically. Lyrically, Soft Cell used Jones' lyrics and Swann's retooled lyrics about 50/50, while inserting their own when needed to improve upon things. The only Soft Cell lyrical decision I might have changed would be not going with "And I've lost my light," though that's a quibble.

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New England Digital's "Synclavier II"

While this is an article about lyrics, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that a HUGE part of the 1981 song's success was that producer Mike Thorne had a new Synclavier II. Every note except for the bassline (sequenced on a Korg) was played on the Synclavier, most notably the gorgeously orchestral swells and the "da dun dun" synth stabs.

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Melody Change

How Marc Almond sings the melody is notably different than Jones, and a bit closer to Swann's melody. I think that's perhaps why he states that Soft Cell relied more on the Swann version. Put simply, Swann's melody is superior to the way Jones sings the lyrics, and Almond's is superior to both.