By Tony Attwood
The trouble with this song is that although it isn’t a 12 bar blues it feels as if it ought to be created as one, and that thought has obviously sunk into the minds of many of the artists covering the song. As a result, a lot of the covers sound pretty much the same.
But although The Derek Trucks Band don’t turn it into a ballad they do keep a lot of the obvious feel of the piece, while at the same time do that magical thing of taking us somewhere else.
And then rather unexpectedly at around 3 minutes 30 seconds they create a coda which feels absolutely part of the song, and yet at the same time gives us new insights, new feelings, new emotions, and above all a new sense of catastrophe, which contrasts with many other recording in which the only catastrophe is that the cover version was made at all.
But of course, really this is a blues song, and Jimmy LaFave (pictured at the top of this article) gave us a fair old working through of the song in this style tinged with some solid rock and roll. He really was a sublime performer who incidentally championed the work of Woodie Guthrie. Jimmy died tragically of cancer in his early 60s, never missing a gig.
I can think of no talent more deserving than a place among this daily look at Dylan covers. Utterly stunning.
- 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
- Dylan cover of the Day 27: Desolation Row as never ever before (twice)
- Dylan cover of the Day 28: Dignity.
- Dylan Cover of the Day 29: Dirge
- Dylan Cover of the Day 30: Don’t fall apart on me tonight.
- A Dylan cover a Day 31: Don’t think twice
- Dylan cover a day 32: Down along the cove