Once or twice: A review of some of the songs that Bob has performed just once or twice on stage, selecting those of which we have a genuine recording of a live event (and “genuine” is important here since I have found a few sites that seem to suggest they are a recording of a live version, but I have my doubts.) Text and video selection by Tony Attwood.
Obviously a fair number of the songs which Bob only performed once or twice live do not have recording of that performance – of have a recording which is of such poor quality I wouldn’t want to inflict it upon you.
One of these poor quality recordings that I will inflict however is of “Meet me in the Morning” performed with Jack White. If you really want to hear it here it is, but sadly what should have been a great moment of the two men together, isn’t.
We have more luck with the one and only performance of From A Buick 6 in 1965. It is a straight 12 bar blues and in reality Bob doesn’t find that much to do with the song when playing it. Perhaps that is because Wiki describes it as a raucous blues song. And with such songs, it either is or it isn’t.
The studio recording was released as the B side of Positively 4th Street and is noted by several writers as being based on “Milk Cow Blues” by Sleepy John Estes. There are fractional elements in Bob’s song that are similar to Milk Cow Blues, but then that is pretty much true for every 12 bar blues, so I am not really convinced. Here’s the Sleepy John original…
Here are the other articles from this series
- A satisfied mind
- Caribbean Wind
- The girl on the Greenbriar Shore
- Highway 61 revisited
- Lay Down your weary tune
- Lily, Rosemary and Stage Fright
- Only a hobo
- Restless Farewell
- Roll on John
- Sally Sue Brown
- Spanish Harlem Incident
- Stage Fright
- Talking New York
- You Angel You