A Dylan Cover a Day: I love you too much

By Tony Attwood

OK a bit of a retreat into my old rock n roll days with this one, not to mention my teenage years.

“I love you too much” (sometimes written as “I (must) love you too much” for reasons that will not become clear at this point), it’s not the best known of Bob’s songs (or I should say co-compositions – this being written by Helena Springs), but even if nothing else, this track is worth it for the wonderful guitar solo, and the memories of a fabulous musician.

Of course in situations like this there are all sorts of other factors that come in – although as I start to explain, I would add that I’ve selected this recording because I really do enjoy the recording, and think it is a superb interpretation of the song, not for the reasons below.

So, to explain. Greg Lake and I were born in the same year (I’m still here however, sadly Greg is not) and he was brought up in Oakdale, a suburb of Poole in Dorset (on the English south coast). Of far less interest to anyone except me is the fact that from the age of 11, my family lived just up the road from Greg, in Broadstone, and I used to travel through Oakdale every day on the bus on the way to and from school.

According to Wiki, “At the age of 12, he first learned to play the guitar and wrote his first song, “Lucky Man“. I started on the piano before moving to Dorset with my family, and took up the guitar a little later (I was 13).

I know we didn’t go to the same school – he was at Henry Harbin, and I was down the road at Poole Grammar, but the bus I took to and from school each day went via Oakdale and then past Henry Harbin school, so it is possible – just possible – that he and I were on the same bus. Such is my connection with fame!

He became a professional musician aged 17; I was still at school in the daytime doing my A levels with the hope of going to university, and (to my parent’s dismay), playing a mix of Dylan songs and my own compositions in a folk club in Bournemouth in the evening, when not exploring the world of dancing. I just got side-tracked I guess.

Anyway, enough of my ancient days. This is the only cover of “I love you too much” that I can find, and it is a really great rock version. I love it for the music that it is, but I must admit I also love the notion that maybe Greg Lake and I were on the same bus together day after day going to and from school.

Greg Lake died on 7 December 2016, after suffering from cancer for a long while. His music however is still very much with us, and I’m rather grateful I’m still here to write about it. And to listen to Greg Lake’s music.

The details of “Cover a day” follow after this little note about Untold Dylan….

Untold Dylan was created in 2008 and is currently published 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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