A Dylan Cover a Day: When the night comes falling from the sky

By Tony Attwood

This is one of those songs where lots of amateur performers have created solo versions which they feel are worthy of worldwide attention and so have put them on the internet, but which professional performers have by and large tended to ignore.

And in such circumstances, I do listen to the amateur productions in the hope of finding a pearl, but the problem is that such performers do tend to perform it as Dylan does – or as near as they can get.  Which is the problem – because we’ve already got the Dylan versions

Unless of course this is one of those occasions where I have simply not found the ultimate cover – which is in fact the conclusion I reach at the end (just in case you don’t want to plough through all my ramblings).

This song was never a Dylan favourite – he played it on tour some 61 times during the 1986/7 tour, but that was it – at least according to the official site (which, if you are a regular reader of my ramblings on other topics here, you will know we have now discovered is not as accurate as one might wish.)

Anyway, we have a few versions, so here we go…

Jeff Healey Band

This version starts on around one minute, after the introductory chitchat from the double guitarist – double in the sense that he is playing two guitars – one as a rhythm guitar and the other as a lead which he switches to for the brief breaks.   I have to admit I have not seen this done before, and it is done in the instrumental break with extraordinary effect.

I imagine it must take a huge amount of practice to move from the standard way of playing to be able to do this, although as far as I know he always played like this from the very start.

I find this an utterly stunning piece of reworking of the Dylan song, which really takes the original much, much further.

Jeff Healey died of cancer in 2007 – a tragic loss.

The Black Crows

The Black Crows go in for a full-bloodied full-on version, which I guess reflects the implication of tragedy contained within the title.   And yet I am not sure this is the right treatment.  After all the lyrics begin

You can look out across the fields, see me returning
Smoke is in your eye, you draw a smile
From the fireplace where all my letters to you are burning
You've had time to think about it for a while

But maybe we shouldn’t pay too much attention to the lyrics.

Lucious

But of course, the song doesn’t have to be belted out at full blast  and in this next version it seems to me the lyrics are considered much more comprehensively

I walked 200 miles, now look me over
It's the end of the chase and the moon is high
It don't matter who loves who
Either you love me or I love you
When the night comes falling from the sky

I particularly like the way the percussion holds back, although when it does enter fulsomely in the third verse, I have a feeling that maybe it is just too much.  But there again there are those lovely harmonies over the repeated title line.

But still, for me, by this time we are getting rather overloaded – and it strikes me a set of singers could do an unaccompanied version of this.   For here I think that they have taken the song up so far before the instrumental break that it then urgently needs taking back down thereafter.

And they do this with the solo section, but then in comes that percussion again.   Overall it is tantalisingly close to a version I can hear in my head, but destroyed by an unneeded accompaniment.

And yes I do appreciate that the concept of the night falling from the sky is dramatic – but I just imagine a contrast between that repeated line, and … well,, silence.

Dylan and Petty

I’m sorry to say I can’t make out what Bob is saying at the start of this piece – and that’s a shame for it could be just the insight into what he then does that I am looking for.

As you will expect the two rockers treat this as a rock song – and of course it works perfectly well as that.   So my thoughts about it being a much gentler song are really just about its potential.    For me, the female chorus is not needed – and yes of course the concept of the night falling is as dramatic as you can get.   So it’s just me.  I’ve had enough drama; I’d like the sky to fall gently and quietly – such an event could be just as dramatic.

But then, if your audience is standing and bouncing up and down and indeed going wild, this is what they want.

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
160. Tryin’ to get to Heaven
161.  Unbelievable
162. “Up to Me” and a return to earlier days
163. Visions of Johanna
164. Walking down the line
165. Whatcha gonna do
166. Well Well Well
167. Went to see the Gypsy.
168. What good am I
169. What was it you wanted
170. When I paint my masterpiece