A Dylan Cover a Day: Sweetheart like You

By Tony Attwood

The problem with covers is that the more distinctive the song, the more difficult it is to retain the essence of the song and yet make a new version that says and offers something different.

The opening chord sequence of Sweetheart Like, and that descending bass movement which turns up repeatedly in the song, makes making a difference very difficult.  Keep it in, and there’s not much room to change the song.  Leave it out, and you’ve lost the song.

Steve Gibbons tries his best with occasional moves into declaiming the lyrics rather than singing them, with the emphasis then on the pain of the break up.   But for me the lead guitar part that pops up at the end of each line makes it all seem too artificial.

Chrissie Hynde is an expert at re-working Dylan, and here again it seems she has managed to combine the essence of the song with her own occasionally hesitant interpretation.   Suddenly I’ve lost my memory of Dylan’s original and am treating the song as something new, something to be focussed on afresh.   This is how it should be done.  I’m not 100% sure of the instrumental verse at the end with the … what is it – an organ, a flute, a synth… picking out the melody.   But one can always stop listening and go back to the start.

World Party

World Party (ie Karl Wallinger) keeps the solid emphasis on the chord sequence, and it takes him a moment to establish himself, but once there it flows beautifully.   I would have taken the bass down quite a lot in the final mix, and maybe, just maybe asked Jimmy to lay off the tendency to edge towards histrionics, but these are thoughts depending on one interprets the lyrics.  Is it regret?  Is it sadness?  Is it a desperate attempt to get her out?   Yes, how you sing it all depends how you feel it.

Listening next to Jimmy LaFave is something of a relief at least for me since here we seem to have a much greater understanding of the lyrics.   He was the first recipient of the Restless Spirit Award, which I always thought was very appropriate – especially when one hears a recording like this.

Judy Collins

I am not sure why someone with such a perfect voice as Judy Collins would ever waste even half a second in a song by speaking the lyrics rather than singing them, but even with her singing 60% of a song is generally worth more than other artists singing 100%.  Every ounce of the plaintiveness of the song is still there, and one can always imagine that after the idea of the spoken lines was put on the song the musical director was quietly led away and allowed to direct no more.  But no matter what, it is still beautiful and gets every ounce out of the song that there is to be got.

• The Dylan Cover a Day series
  1. The song with numbers in the title.
  2. Ain’t Talkin
  3. All I really want to do
  4.  Angelina
  5.  Apple Suckling and Are you Ready.
  6. As I went out one morning
  7.  Ballad for a Friend
  8. Ballad in Plain D
  9. Ballad of a thin man
  10.  Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
  11. The ballad of Hollis Brown
  12. Beyond here lies nothing
  13. Blind Willie McTell
  14.  Black Crow Blues (more fun than you might recall)
  15. An unexpected cover of “Black Diamond Bay”
  16. Blowin in the wind as never before
  17. Bob Dylan’s Dream
  18. BoB Dylan’s 115th Dream revisited
  19. Boots of Spanish leather
  20. Born in Time
  21. Buckets of Rain
  22. Can you please crawl out your window
  23. Can’t wait
  24. Changing of the Guard
  25. Chimes of Freedom
  26. Country Pie
  27.  Crash on the Levee
  28. Dark Eyes
  29. Dear Landlord
  30. Desolation Row as never ever before (twice)
  31. Dignity.
  32. Dirge
  33. Don’t fall apart on me tonight.
  34. Don’t think twice
  35.  Down along the cove
  36. Drifter’s Escape
  37. Duquesne Whistle
  38. Farewell Angelina
  39. Foot of Pride and Forever Young
  40. Fourth Time Around
  41. From a Buick 6
  42. Gates of Eden
  43. Gotta Serve Somebody
  44. Hard Rain’s a-gonna Fall.
  45. Heart of Mine
  46. High Water
  47. Highway 61
  48. Hurricane
  49. I am a lonesome hobo
  50. I believe in you
  51. I contain multitudes
  52. I don’t believe you.
  53. I love you too much
  54. I pity the poor immigrant. 
  55. I shall be released
  56. I threw it all away
  57. I want you
  58. I was young when I left home
  59. I’ll remember you
  60. Idiot Wind and  More idiot wind
  61. If not for you, and a rant against prosody
  62. If you Gotta Go, please go and do something different
  63. If you see her say hello
  64. Dylan cover a day: I’ll be your baby tonight
  65. I’m not there.
  66. In the Summertime, Is your love and an amazing Isis
  67. It ain’t me babe
  68. It takes a lot to laugh
  69. It’s all over now Baby Blue
  70. It’s all right ma
  71. Just Like a Woman
  72. Knocking on Heaven’s Door
  73. Lay down your weary tune
  74. Lay Lady Lay
  75. Lenny Bruce
  76. That brand new leopard skin pill box hat
  77. Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
  78. License to kill
  79. Like a Rolling Stone
  80. Love is just a four letter word
  81. Love Sick
  82. Maggies Farm!
  83. Make you feel my love; a performance that made me cry.
  84. Mama you’ve been on my mind
  85. Man in a long black coat.
  86. Masters of War
  87. Meet me in the morning
  88. Million Miles. Listen, and marvel.
  89. Mississippi. Listen, and marvel (again)
  90. Most likely you go your way
  91. Most of the time and a rhythmic thing
  92. Motorpsycho Nitemare
  93. Mozambique
  94. Mr Tambourine Man
  95. My back pages, with a real treat at the end
  96. New Morning
  97. New Pony. Listen where and when appropriate
  98. Nobody Cept You
  99. North Country Blues
  100. No time to think
  101. Obviously Five Believers
  102. Oh Sister
  103. On the road again
  104. One more cup of coffee
  105. (Sooner or later) one of us must know
  106. One too many mornings
  107. Only a hobo
  108. Only a pawn in their game
  109. Outlaw Blues – prepare to be amazed
  110. Oxford Town
  111. Peggy Day and Pledging my time
  112. Please Mrs Henry
  113. Political world
  114. Positively 4th Street
  115. Precious Angel
  116. Property of Jesus
  117. Queen Jane Approximately
  118. Quinn the Eskimo as it should be performed.
  119. Quit your lowdown ways
  120. Rainy Day Women as never before
  121. Restless Farewell. Exquisite arrangements, unbelievable power
  122. Ring them bells in many different ways
  123. Romance in Durango, covered and re-written
  124. Sad Eyed Lady of Lowlands, like you won’t believe
  125. Sara
  126. Senor
  127. A series of Dreams; no one gets it (except Dylan)
  128. Seven Days
  129. She Belongs to Me
  130. Shelter from the Storm
  131. Sign on the window
  132. Silvio
  133. Simple twist of fate
  134. Slow Train
  135. Someday Baby
  136. Spanish Harlem Incident
  137. Standing in the Doorway
  138. Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
  139. Subterranean Homesick Blues