Details of our current and recent series are given on the home page of this site. I’m always interested in receiving new ideas for articles and series – if you would like to contribute please do email me: Tony@schools.co.uk – and write “Untold Dylan” in the subject line.
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By Tony Attwood
My first venture in this recently invented series was a review of performances of “When the Ship Comes In” – which then led me to post a recording of that song by the Farewell Drifters. Since that post I’ve been delighted to have a spot of correspondence with a member of the band – and as I suspected they are no longer together, but still in touch with and on good terms with each other, which is good to hear. And indeed a good reason to continue looking at Bob’s songs which according to the official website were performed just three times by Bob.
To give an overall perspective of this rather bizarre search for obscure songs, there are about 370 songs that are listed on the site which have turned up on officially recognised albums (including of course the Bootleg series) but which Dylan has (according to the site) never performed in public, plus around 55 that have been played just the once, and around 28 that have been performed twice.
But I am somewhat hesitant with these numbers since I am a) dependent on the info only on the official site, which does occasionally make a slip, and b) I am counting up the totals on the screen, which is not always easy.
However there are only 15 songs that Bob has (at least again according to the official site) performed three times which doesn’t give me many to look at. Although it was the realisation that “When the ship comes in” (a song I rate very highly indeed) was in the list that made me want to look further – although you might recall I started out with Dink’s Song as the first item in what is, quite clearly, going to be a fairly short series.
But now, on with the next song – Let it Be Me. This is from Colombes 1981
The song is based on “Je t’appartiens”, (roughly “I belong to you”) which was released as a single in France by Gilbert Bécaud in 1955. And if you have never heard the original you might want to sit down first…
The song was written by the performer and his regular lyricist collaborator Pierre Delanoë. The story is that Delanoë “wrote the lyrics for Bécaud as an apology for missing one of the singer’s performances.” It was released on the old HMV label in 1955.
But the version most of us old-timers recall is the one by the Everly Brothers recorded in 1959 in New York with a band made up of Howard Collins, Barry Galbraith, and the ensemble of Mundell Lowe, Lloyd Trotman, Hank Rowland, and Jerry Allison. The song was released in 1960.
For me, it is one of those songs that has always stayed in my memory, and on seeing that Bob had performed it three times, the music immediately came into my head – although I’d not only not previously listened to Bob’s performance, but also not knowing heard it in many, many a long year. I am not at all sure whose performance I knew, although I imagine it was the Everly Brothers version, as that was a hit in the UK.
And certainly, when I found their version on the internet it immediately rang a bell…
But returning to Bob we do have the last of the three live performances, this one with Clydie King
I can see why Bob performed it (which is not always the case with other people’s songs) – it is a singularly beautiful, calm and relaxing piece.
It also rather curiously fits with what is happening outside my house as I write this. I look out onto my garden at the end of which are a set of very tall trees, above which as I write was a vast array of maybe 100, circling birds. And as the music finished they flew away.
I’m neither suggesting the birds could hear the recording, not that there is any significance, but I do like moments like this, reminding me of the randomness of life. And it remains, to me at least, and I guess to Bob, a rather beautiful song. It will, I am sure stay in my head throughout today – at least until I go dancing tonight, when of course new music will take over.