By Tony Attwood
So here we have another of those Dylan songs that is so distinctive in so many ways it can be something that everyone wants to cover, but only a handful of artists and/or arrangers has the nerve, guts and talent to explore and ultimately go somewhere Dylan didn’t go.
This song has a highly recognisable instrumental opening, a highly recognisable opening line in terms of melody and lyric, and a highly memorable title line – and that is before we get to that very distinctive middle 8 which, unusually for Bob brings in a chords that have nothing to do with the key … and eventually modulates. It is a song that you can’t mistake for anything else – and that makes it really hard for cover artists to do anything with it that is utterly different from the original. Unless of course either they or their arrangers are super talented.
Take the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, just those opening chords tell you what you are getting. But for them the difference is thrown in by the harmonies and orchestration – not too much, but just enough to remind us throughout that this is a Bob song but not a Bob version.
But that has been done many, many times, so from there on something very different needs to be in place. Liam Bailey does it not just by making this a solo, but by playing totally different chords by way of accompaniment. This is quite a rare technique, not least because it is so hard to pull off – although it is what several cover artists have tried in relation to this piece. The fact is that even if you have no musical background and don’t know one chord from another, you’ll hear that this music is nothing like Dylan’s.
And Mr Bailey does have a magnificent voice.
Katherine Rondeau takes us back to the original but with such a beautiful voice, I find I just have to listen. For when she says “throw my troubles out the door” then (unlike in the Dylan version) I find myself believing her.
This is a technique owned by a precious few – to make us believe that she really does mean it all, rather than is just singing it from the script. Just listen to the middle 8 (“is it really any wonder”) and remember this whole effect is being achieved by a guitar, a violin, and a voice. Nothing more. In the hands of the best, that’s all it needs to make us believe.
Jeff Jensen tries the song with a big band between the rock group, and sings it fortissimo in order to match the instruments behind him. It is an interesting approach, and at least the instrumentation is kept under control – although in the instrumental break I think we get to the limits, although they do draw back and keep the song in touch with itself. The chorus in the “staying here with you” repeated line at the end is a nice effect to round it all off, and it’s a fine effort, but not the very best, in my view. But still worthy of a listen.
Janet Planet tries the modern jazz approach in the accompaniment and she has the perfect voice to carry it off – and indeed to vary the melody line in keeping with the variations in the instrumental parts. In fact, I think if I had come across version first, before hearing Bob’s recording or knowing that it was one of his pieces, I’d never guess it was a Dylan song.
And what helps is the lady’s perfect voice for this kind of singing. Plus the instrumental section on 3 minutes adds to the fun and occasion. Great stuff.
Ann Peebles is, for me at least, always associated with “I can’t stand the rain”, but that’s just me… what she does is what the others have been doing – varying the chordal accompaniment in parts, and then using her magnificent voice to fly over the changing instrumentation. And that really is the thing that holds these versions together – the inventiveness of the arrangers in each case. They don’t make covers – they take the original and fly. And that is exactly how it should be.
And please don’t miss the wonderful instrumental break from 2’20” onwards. In a sense it is so simple but it works so perfectly within the context. Plus Anne Peebles is such a pro she knows exactly when to keep it all where she is… the whole point of the song is that the “staying here with you” is just said and accepted. There’s no big fuss, the feelings have won, it’s a statement of fact. That’s how Bob wrote it, and that’s how it is.
Here’s the rest of this series of reviews of Dylan covers in the “Cover a Day” series. Over 150 of them, so not enough to keep you going all year as the “cover a day” title intended, but still, quite a few.
- The song with numbers in the title.
- Ain’t Talkin
- All I really want to do
- Angelina
- Apple Suckling and Are you Ready.
- As I went out one morning
- Ballad for a Friend
- Ballad in Plain D
- Ballad of a thin man
- Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
- The ballad of Hollis Brown
- Beyond here lies nothing
- Blind Willie McTell
- Black Crow Blues (more fun than you might recall)
- An unexpected cover of “Black Diamond Bay”
- Blowin in the wind as never before
- Bob Dylan’s Dream
- BoB Dylan’s 115th Dream revisited
- Boots of Spanish leather
- Born in Time
- Buckets of Rain
- Can you please crawl out your window
- Can’t wait
- Changing of the Guard
- Chimes of Freedom
- Country Pie
- Crash on the Levee
- Dark Eyes
- Dear Landlord
- Desolation Row as never ever before (twice)
- Dignity.
- Dirge
- Don’t fall apart on me tonight.
- Don’t think twice
- Down along the cove
- Drifter’s Escape
- Duquesne Whistle
- Farewell Angelina
- Foot of Pride and Forever Young
- Fourth Time Around
- From a Buick 6
- Gates of Eden
- Gotta Serve Somebody
- Hard Rain’s a-gonna Fall.
- Heart of Mine
- High Water
- Highway 61
- Hurricane
- I am a lonesome hobo
- I believe in you
- I contain multitudes
- I don’t believe you.
- I love you too much
- I pity the poor immigrant.
- I shall be released
- I threw it all away
- I want you
- I was young when I left home
- I’ll remember you
- Idiot Wind and More idiot wind
- If not for you, and a rant against prosody
- If you Gotta Go, please go and do something different
- If you see her say hello
- Dylan cover a day: I’ll be your baby tonight
- I’m not there.
- In the Summertime, Is your love and an amazing Isis
- It ain’t me babe
- It takes a lot to laugh
- It’s all over now Baby Blue
- It’s all right ma
- Just Like a Woman
- Knocking on Heaven’s Door
- Lay down your weary tune
- Lay Lady Lay
- Lenny Bruce
- That brand new leopard skin pill box hat
- Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
- License to kill
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Love is just a four letter word
- Love Sick
- Maggies Farm!
- Make you feel my love; a performance that made me cry.
- Mama you’ve been on my mind
- Man in a long black coat.
- Masters of War
- Meet me in the morning
- Million Miles. Listen, and marvel.
- Mississippi. Listen, and marvel (again)
- Most likely you go your way
- Most of the time and a rhythmic thing
- Motorpsycho Nitemare
- Mozambique
- Mr Tambourine Man
- My back pages, with a real treat at the end
- New Morning
- New Pony. Listen where and when appropriate
- Nobody Cept You
- North Country Blues
- No time to think
- Obviously Five Believers
- Oh Sister
- On the road again
- One more cup of coffee
- (Sooner or later) one of us must know
- One too many mornings
- Only a hobo
- Only a pawn in their game
- Outlaw Blues – prepare to be amazed
- Oxford Town
- Peggy Day and Pledging my time
- Please Mrs Henry
- Political world
- Positively 4th Street
- Precious Angel
- Property of Jesus
- Queen Jane Approximately
- Quinn the Eskimo as it should be performed.
- Quit your lowdown ways
- Rainy Day Women as never before
- Restless Farewell. Exquisite arrangements, unbelievable power
- Ring them bells in many different ways
- Romance in Durango, covered and re-written
- Sad Eyed Lady of Lowlands, like you won’t believe
- Sara
- Senor
- A series of Dreams; no one gets it (except Dylan)
- Seven Days
- She Belongs to Me
- Shelter from the Storm
- Sign on the window
- Silvio
- Simple twist of fate
- Slow Train
- Someday Baby
- Spanish Harlem Incident
- Standing in the Doorway
- Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
- Subterranean Homesick Blues
- Sweetheart Like You
- Tangled up in Blue
- Tears of Rage
- Temporary Like Achilles. Left in the cold, but there’s still something…
- The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar
- The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
- The Man in Me
- Times they are a-changin’
- The Wicked Messenger
- Things have changed
- This Wheel’s on Fire
- Thunder on the mountain
- Till I fell in love with you in the north of Norway
- Time Passes Slowly – just sit down and close your eyes
- To be alone with you
- To Ramona: unexpectedly yes!
- Tombstone Blues
Tony, thank you so very much for your lovely comments on my version of “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You.” I am a HUGE Dylan fan, and released “Long Ago, Far Away, another of his songs on my previous album. Here’s a link to it! https://katherinerondeau.com/track/1092478/long-ago-far-away
My pleasure Katherine