I don’t know what it means either: an index to the current series appearing on this website.
For more details on this new series on cover versions of Dylan songs that were not previously considered in the last series, please see the intro to the first article in this series.
- The Covers We Missed 1: Saturday Night Fry – 2×2
- The Covers We Missed 2: Abandoned Love
- The Covers We Missed 3: Ain’t Talkin
- The Covers we missed 4: All along the Watchtower
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by Jürg Lehmann
All I Really Want to Do
Two covers that I would like to recommend: Sussan Deyhim and Ben Sidran.
Sussan Deyhim’s cover was originally as part of the Amnesty International release Chimes of Freedom, an album in celebration of Bob Dylan’s 70th Birthday with 70 international artists contributing their interpretations of his songs.
Sussan’s version is in collaboration with composer Anton Sanko on Ukulele, Bass synthesist Peter Freeman and produced by Richard Horowitz. Asked how she arrived at that very particular arrangement of “All I Really Want to Do”, Deyhim said,
“I’ve been really involved with human rights organizations for the last 15 years. Amnesty International called me and said they had an idea to get dozens of artists to cover songs by Dylan. It was his 70th birthday, so it was also celebrating that. I said I’d do it and it was quite a challenge to choose something that hadn’t been taken by the more well-known artists.
“Then I ran into “All I Really Want to Do” which had a lot of potential. Dylan sings it with passion, but there’s also an element of anger at the same time. I chose to do it in a very feminine way. I was very self-conscious about it initially but my collaborators convinced me it was a really good idea.
“I also thought about doing it in a very punk way, which would have been interesting too. But my friends said let’s do it the other way. I like how it came out, but I wish we had mixed the guitars a little louder and made it more of a literal pop song. But when you’re doing projects like this, you don’t have the luxury of time. You have to deliver quickly and there’s never a budget. It’s labor of love and your choices are influenced by that.”
I’m glad she did it the way it came out
A great, very individual cover, and if you’re wondering what language it is at about 3:40 and 4:28: it’s Farsi.
Sussan Deyhim is an Iranian-American composer, singer, performance artist and activist. She is internationally recognised for her unique language of sound and song, imbued with a sense of ritual and the unknown. She has been a member of the Iranian National Ballet since the age of thirteen and has travelled all over Iran to study with folk musicians and dancers. In 1976, she joined the Béjart Ballet in Europe after receiving a scholarship. In 1980, she moved to New York and began a career spanning music, theatre, dance, media and film.
Ben Sidran is an American jazz and rock keyboardist, producer, label owner and music writer. He is one of those musicians who have done an incredible amount for the reception and promotion of Dylan – in his case, especially in the field of jazz. Sidran has released two albums with Dylan covers, a studio album and a live album. On the occasion of a live concert in Paris, Sidran explains why and how he got involved with Dylan:
Ben Sidran will also be featured later in this series with excellent covers. Here is All I Really Want to Do: