By Tony Attwood
Are my choices of cover versions related to how I feel when writing these little pieces? Most certainly yes. It is not that I have great mood swings generally, although I am a fairly emotional fellow – but it is that I tend to move around in my way of seeing the world, often changing because of what happened yesterday.
Which leads to the notion of Dylan’s music not being judged by all-time visions of greatness or otherwise, but on the basis of how I feel when I woke up this morning. And indeed maybe that is how we should see all commentaries. Heylin sees Dylan as he does because Heylin is a grumpy fellow who believes he is always right. That seems to fit.
And certainly today I woke up [or should I say, “I woke up this morning”] knowing that I had done something yesterday that I had not done before – a six and a half mile walk in the Nottinghamshire countryside in the afternoon followed by three hours solid jiving in a small town in Northamptonshire. Such events tend to give one a new vision on life the following morning when trying to get the body moving again. Especially at my time of life.
So, knowing what was next on the “cover a day” menu I thought the choice would be obvious. One version of Desolation Row that suits my body’s need to recover before setting out for London to watch my club play football.
A version of Desolation Row that has everything. It is unexpected, it is beautifully performed, it is brilliantly arranged, and by and large it comes from a set of brains whose working I can only sit back and admire. The one tragedy is it is only three minutes long and I wanted it to go on and on and on. But still I can play it again.
And again.
But then I relented and thought, hell, although contemplation and intellectual endeavour are a part of life, surely so is contrast. So is seeing the world from different angles, getting new visions and new perspectives. Or at least getting moving because there is another dance to night in another county (Leicestershire this time).
I thus felt I should put in something by way of contrast… just in case you needed something different. And of course just as you don’t have to read, you don’t have to listen either.
But you can do if you want.
- Dylan cover of the day: Number 1. The song with numbers in the title.
- Dylan cover of the day. No 2: Ain’t Talkin
- Bob Dylan cover of the day No3: All I really want to do
- Dylan cover of the day No4: Angelina
- Dylan covers of the day No 5. Apple Suckling and Are you Ready.
- Cover version of the day No 6: As I went out one morning
- Dylan cover of the day No 7: Ballad for a Friend
- Dylan Cover of the Day No 8: Ballad in Plain D
- Dylan Cover of the Day No 9: Ballad of a thin man
- Dylan cover No. 10: The stunning reworking of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
- Dylan cover of the day No 11: The ballad of Hollis Brown
- A Dylan cover a day No 12: Beyond here lies nothing
- Dylan cover of the day No 13: Blind Willie McTell
- Dylan Cover of the Day 14: Black Crow Blues (more fun than you might recall)
- Dylan Cover of the Day 15: An unexpected cover of “Black Diamond Bay”
- Dylan Cover of the Day 16: Blowin in the wind as never before
- Dylan Cover of the Day 17: Bob Dylan’s Dream
- Dylan Cover of the Day 18: You will not believe this… 115th Dream revisited
- Dylan cover of the day 19: Boots of Spanish leather
- Dylan cover of the day 20: Born in Time
- Dylan cover of the day 21: Buckets of Rain
- Dylan cover of the day: 22 Can you please crawl out your window
- Dylan cover of the day 23: Can’t wait
- Dylan Cover of the Day 24: Changing of the Guard
- Dylan Cover of the Day 25: Chimes of Freedom
- Dylan Cover of the Day 26: Dear Landlord
———–
Untold Dylan was created in 2008 and is published daily – currently twice a day, sometimes more, sometimes less. Details of some of our series are given at the top of the page and in the Recent Posts list, which appears both on the right side of the page and at the very foot of the page (helpful if you are reading on a phone). Some of our past articles which form part of a series are also included on the home page.
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Check out the cover by Songdog, recorded for Uncut magazine ( for their Highway 61tribute CD).
The quartet version does not have everything…,the lyrics are missing –
These may help to set the mood:
They’re selling pancakes at the wedding
They’re passing cookies around
The pizza parlor is full of flavours
The service is in town
Here comes the deaf and blind minister
For him, it’s quite a labour
In one hand he holds a white cane
In the other a glass of red champagne
But there are no restrooms
And the guests need somewhere to go
As the bride and groom look outside in fright
From Desolation Row
Songdog’s version is good, but the lyrics are wrong….
In the movie ‘All About Eve’, threatre critic Romeo (George Sanders) says “you belong to me…,” to Anne Baxter, not to Bette Davis (lol)