Series edited by Tony Attwood
Details of the earlier articles in this series are given at the end of the article. If you want to add some more suggestions please do at the end of the article – although if you can check that they haven’t already been suggested that would be great.
61: Blowin’ in the wind by McCrary Sisters. Suggested by Johannes. [This is extraordinary, even after hearing a hundred versions of the song performed a million times, this is something – Tony]
62: Le ciel est noir (A hard rain’s a-gonna fall) by Nana Mouskouri. Suggested by Johannes
63: De kweade boadskipper (The wicked messenger in Frisian) by Ernst Langhout & Johan Keus. Suggested by Johannes
I’m going to add a note for anyone interested who is not familiar with Frisian languages – they are spoken by people who live in the Netherlands and Germany bordering the North Sea. Part of the group of languages descended from Old English, if I understand it aright.
64: De swalkers flecht (The Drifter’s Escape in Frisian by Ernst Langhout & Johan Keus). Added by Tony. I only found this because having had De kweade boadskipper added I played the whole album on Spotify, and if you have read my ramblings across this site you might recall I endlessly rave over “Drifter’s Escape” and this is a great re-working of the song – a song very few people have felt brave enough to tackle. As above the recording is on Spotify.
65: Forever Young by Joan Baez. Suggested by Mike
66: Blowin’ in the Wind. Peter Paul and Mary. Suggested Mike
67: Too Much of Nothing. Peter Paul and Mary. Suggested by Tony. I added this one realising that we had had nothing from PP and M. Dylan recorded two Basement versions of this song, one is pure madness and hysteria and the other leads onto this reworking. The story is that Bob fell out with PPM and because they changed the name of the two characters that had to be said hello to. They have “Valerie and Marion”. Bob however had
Say hello to Valerie
Say hello to Vivienne
Send them all my salary
On the waters of oblivion
My argument was that the names meant something very important – the two wives of TS Eliot. The story is in the review of the song here.
68: Tambourine Man by the Byrds. Suggested by Mike.
69: Blood on the Tracks by Mary Lee’s Corvette. Suggested by Jerry Strauss. The whole album is not on the internet at large but “You’re a big girl now” is on line. As is “Idiot wind” from the Blood on the Tracks Concert. The whole gig does not seem to be on Spotify.
70: Positively 4th Street by Johnny Rivers suggested by Tom Haber.
Here are the earlier parts of the series.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
All recordings suggested contain links to online versions. Part 6 (the last one added before part 7 – rather obviously) contains recordings by Lou Reed, Joan Baez, Bettye Lavette, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Yul Anderson, Jesse Cook, Bonnie Rait, Joe Cocker, Chicago Mass Choir.
What else is on the site
You’ll find an index to our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page. You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.
The index to the 500+ songs reviewed is now on a new page of its own. You will find it here.
We also now have a discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link
And please do note The Bob Dylan Project, which lists every Dylan song in alphabetical order, and has links to licensed recordings and performances by Dylan and by other artists, is starting to link back to our reviews
There is a polish band which sings their translations of Dylan called Dylan.pl. I was always astounded by their version of Jokerman (“Arlekin”), which can be heard on Spotify.
https://open.spotify.com/album/0w0Kl4WMUl2fZlbhKCKSDI
I haven’t noticed Melanie (Safka’s) version of Tambourine Man, which Dylan even played part of in his Theme Time radio show.
If I may, I would also suggest Patti Smith’s version of Changing of The Guards :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY2B_9KpRqk