Aaron Galbraith
John Wesley Harding was a friend to the poor…wait, let me start again, I meant to say that John Wesley Harding is a British pop and folk singer and novelist.
He took his stage name from the Dylan song of course and has released many albums since the late 80s including 3 volumes called “Dynablob”, an anagram for Bob Dylan obviously!
Today we will look at 3 of his tracks. First up it’s “Making Love To Bob Dylan”.
In this very amusing video and song he explains that he can make love to just about any other bands music except for Dylan. As he states in the lyrics “it’s partly his voice, it gives me no choice but to focus on what he is saying”. It’s hugely entertaining and a very well done track. I love it.
Next up it’s “Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, David Blue & Me”
Another fine track, it recounts a dream where he has at a party playing guitars with the aforementioned persons. It’s a melancholy piece, much different to the previous track, with a hint of Neil Young in the arrangement and accompaniment. Some cracking lines in the track. My favorites are:
“Teaches Bob 'A Minor' with a glint in his eye Bob used it on Hollis Brown but that was some time ago”
“Last Thursday they were in the room where he sits The three making jokes about the meager obits”
Last up it’s “Bastard Son”, in which he claims Dylan as his father, Joan Baez as his mother and Leonard Cohen is his uncle.
Others such as Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Warren Zevon, Neil Young and Lou Reed drop in to this family reunion and it’s a whole lot of fun!
The studio version is similar in style to “Making Love To Bob Dylan” however, an acoustic version popped up on a subsequent live album which I think I prefer.
What else is here?
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