A Dylan Cover a Day episode 160: Tryin’ to get to Heaven

By Tony Attwood

I was surprised to see how many covers there have been of “Tryin’ to get to Heaven” as from simple recollection of the song I was unsure that there were going to be that many ways to vary the performance and produce something new.   It’s the problem with slow songs: they tend to define themselves in the original format, and it gets hard to see others ways of working that retain the integrity of the song, but still offer something new.

But I was wrong, not least because there is one masterful version of the song available, and it is one that we’ve covered before: Jochen highlighting the David Bowie version in his article on the piece.

That of course is a definitive review of the song and its antecedents and reception, but here I’m casting around for other versions that fascinate – but I’ll still have to end with Bowie.

Starting with Robyn Hitchcock; what we have is the idea of keeping the speed as slow as possible and the accompaniment as simple as can be.  What I like here are the occasional vocal harmonies; what I don’t like are the unexpected changes of melody at the start of the second half of each verse.   Just listen to the line “You broke a heart that loved you”.  It really doesn’t work for me.

Sofia Laiti has the band give us the thought that this could be a reggae version, but it’s not.  But she too feels the temptation to do something with that fifth line in each verse but this is much more successful in my view, and gives us a piece that maintains the interest.

And that really is the issue: it is a strophic song of five musically identical verses, and by now we all know the lyrics … but what this version does is has some fun in the instrumental break in a way that isn’t expected (unless you know this version of course).   That gives us a refreshed outlook for “I’m going down the river” which really works for me.

But I really could do without the coda from 4’30” on.  What were they thinking?

Lucinda Williams goes for the simplest of accompaniments, but for me puts so much into her opening vocals that I can’t imagine what can happen thereafter, except to bring in the band.  And that is what happens.

There is a gorgeous instrumental break, but then we are back to where we were.  And this is the problem with cover versions…by the time we get there we know the song so well, but it needs some real inspiration to hold attention.   That’s there with the instrumentation here, but the focus is on the vocals for most of the time, and they offer little that is new.

I’ve touched on the work of Joan Osborne a number of times before, and I really do think she has an intuitive grasp of Dylan’s work for many of her recordings.  But with the opening of this cover I get a feeling of drowning; there is just too much happening with the electric piano, being played as if it is doing a solo.   Indeed if it were there on its own it could make a really interesting piece.  Just as we could have if Joan Osborne were performing without any accompaniment.   But put it all together and… no it loses me.

And so to the track that Jochen picked out, with a quite remarkable video accompaniment too.

Bowie seemed to have an automatic, instinctive musical vision which allowed him to perform songs in utterly unexpected ways – ways that really no one else would ever imagine.  Here he, and those who worked with him on the arrangement, take this song to utterly unexpected places while retaining the integrity of the song.  It is wonderful, and incredibly hard to do.

Even the addition of Bowie’s voice as a chorus in an over-the-top arrangement from 2’30” onward works, not least because it is successfully taken back down.

I think the point here is that the arranger and artist didn’t just say, “hey let’s do it as xxxx” and stick with that one idea.  This is a multiplicity of ideas – after four minutes we are into another aspect of the whole arrangement, and although there is a use of repeat and repeat Bowie can still carry it off.

Plus remarkably and thankfully, no one suggested doing a fade out. The song has a complete and fulsome ending, and the door is still open.

As I have mentioned before, I am a convinced atheist, and often feel the need to stand up to what I consider to be the remorseless state-funded propaganda of organised religion in my country, but even I can forgive the late Mr Bowie on this occasion.  I hope he made it, if it exists, which I don’t think it does.

 

Previously in the 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
140. Sweetheart Like You
141. Tangled up in Blue
142. Tears of Rage
143.  Temporary Like Achilles. Left in the cold, but there’s still something…
144. The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar
145. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
146. The Man in Me
147. Times they are a-changin’
148. The Wicked Messenger
149. Things have changed
150. This Wheel’s on Fire
151. Thunder on the mountain
152. Till I fell in love with you in the north of Norway
153. Time Passes Slowly – just sit down and close your eyes
154. To be alone with you
155. To Ramona: unexpectedly yes!
156. Tombstone Blues
157. Tonight I’ll be Staying Here With You
158. Too much of nothing
159. Trouble as you have never been troubled before