A Dylan Cover A Day: The Wicked Messenger

By Tony Attwood

Having spent a rather beumisng hour or so meandering around cover versions of Wicked Messenger, I found more than anything that I wanted to remind myself of what Dylan offered us in the original recording. I’ll put a recording of that original at the end – not because I am suggesting you might not remember it, but just in case you find that listening to these reworkings of the song makes you wonder, as they did me, what these fine artists were doing taking “Wicked Messenger” down the routes that they chose.

So in no particular order, other than the fact that this is the order I listened to these covers in… and the fact that I have left the best til the last of the covers, off we go.

Steven Keene

We can pick out the musical phrase that is the centre of Dylan’s original, and hear that much of the melody is the same, but there’s a bounce in here which keeps us jogging along, so that when we get to that key line of “If you can’t bring good news then don’t bring any,” I am reminded of where Dylan took us.

I like this version except for the long instrumental extemporisation that eventually fades out. Up to the fade, I liked it, but the fade feels all wrong to me. Dylan gave us a short simple song because that makes the point of the lyrics – the messenger just turns up with a note which pretty much declares its all over. That’s it. If this piece had finished at around 2 minutes 30 seconds, that would have worked far better, I think.

Patti Smith

Patti Smith gives us a feeling of the wind blowing across the plains (or maybe the desert) and the feeling of impending doom is now to the fore. But I really don’t think the half-spoken half-said end of every other line quite works. And as the song goes on it feels as if everyone is trying too hard to make the point… and I still don’t quite know what the point is.

That not-quite-knowing effect doesn’t matter to me with the Dylan version as it is all so simple and actually we don’t quite know… the messenger comes and is dismissed with a simple line that sends him off. But with this type of production that irony is utterly lost. “If you can’t bring good news then don’t bring any” is not a profound insight into human nature – it is dismissal with the wave of the hand.

The Black Keys

Yes I get the fact that we are talking about something that looks very much like the end of the world (“And the seas began to part…”) but does a pounding beat really put that across? Dylan it seems to me gets it right, by sticking with the simplicity, as in “Sorry guys, but it’s all over.”

Legion of Mary

Legion of Mary get the opening right, following my thesis by making this whole approach mysterious, but I get the feeling that the guitar and organ are fighting each other to see who can convey the weirdness of it all the best. In the end neither of them can because they are too busy fighting each other. (Although maybe that’s the point about the end of the world).

But no, the point to me is the utter contrast between the end of the world message delivered as utterly simple, and what the message actually means to everyone. And no one seems to get that in these covers so far. Perhaps the most profound statement in the video above is that we get about a minute of silence at the end of the video. Maybe the guys knew there was more to this than bashing out that 13 note theme over and over again.

Alex Harvey

Now this is at last a relief – and I hope you have managed to survive this far. The point is that Alex Harvey recognises that there is mischievousness in the way the Messenger behaves. He turns up to announce the end of the world, but doesn’t shout it out to everyone: he delivers a note. That to me is the point, that’s the joke. Does God play dice with the universe? Well, if he does, this is one way He might do it.

In this context I love the way the clarinet solo creates such fun and mischief at the end. Please, if you are still here, let that track above play to the end. It is only 2 minutes 15 seconds, and for once the end of the world is exactly portrayed in the context of what the wicked messenger is all about.

And back to Bob

I don’t know if I have managed to make my thoughts on this song clear, but if you have stayed with me through this journey thanks. My final thought is that re-working Dylan does not necessarily mean adding lots of noise – sometimes the joke in the lyrics is more important than any wild improvisation.

The Dylan Cover a Day series

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