Dylan cover a day: On the road again

By Tony Attwood

Now I have to admit that I’d hardly given a thought to this song over the years until Jochen came along with his four-part review of the piece which ended with a range of cover versions. At the top of that article there are links to the earlier parts of the series, so you pick up on the whole review from that point to get the full background.

And of course Jochen picked out the best of the covers including Julie Doiron, whose voice and the notion of her singing it with herself but without any harmonies is really spooky, it really seems to bring across the whole notion of being “really weird” or put it another way, spaced out.

But for me Jochen’s biggest and best find (in the sense that I had never come across the recording before, or if I have I have forgotten it) was Ben Sidran. Jochen noted, “American jazz phenomenon Ben Sidran delivers an attractive, neurotic cover on his wonderful tribute project Dylan Different (2009) – the performance on Dylan Different Live In Paris At the New Morning (2010) is a degree more neurotic and two degrees more attractive.”

But I would also include Pat Guadagno and Tired Horses as being worthy of a listen. It has a relaxed approach to the piece which after all these years of knowing it I rather like.

For me indeed it is the old question of, does this cover add anything to a song that I know forwards, backwards and inside out? And yes this version does. Most particularly the band don’t just play the instrumental break as a way of using up time – they add an extra insight – or at least an extra thought.

It’s not a profound thought, but it still made me smile.

And I will finally give a mention to The Deversons doing something different, early on in the history of the song – this was released in February 1966. The instrumental break is a disappointment but the sung verses gave me a smile.

But then I’ve always had a weird sense of humour.

The Deverons were from Winnipeg and featured Burton Cummings who left to join The Guess Who in 1965 – they then recorded Undun which was said to have evolved after Cummings heard Ballad in Plain D. It’s an interesting thought and indeed an interesting piece and I shall divert for a moment to offer it in case you are interested.

But that is not my theme today, so here is their “On the road again”

I think it is possible to go further with this song, and my first inclination would be to slow it right down. Ah, if only I was still in a band, I’d have a go at that. “Tony Attwood and the Septegenarians do Dylan Different” – there’s a snappy title for the album.

The Dylan Cover a Day series

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