By Tony Attwood
Having looked at the songs Bob has sung once or twice I’ve now turned to the songs Bob has performed just three times. As I noted last time there are only about 15 such songs, so this is not going to be a very long series, and here we are already onto number four, of which there is just one video I can see – but there may well be others lurking around.
Bob first performed the song “Fever” on 22 November 1980 in San Francisco, then it was performed on 30 November 1980 in Seattle and finally oin 12 June 1981 in Clarkston. So this is the middle version of the three – all perfectly rehearsed and executed as you can hear.
The song was nominated as record of the year and song of the year, although didn’t win either accolade. But Elvis sang it, which must have helped the songwriters earn a few more dollars.
The Dylan recording appears on Springtime in New York, the Bootleg Series volume 16.
What really strikes me about Bob’s version is that it is clearly well rehearsed and perfect in every regard, and yet having gone to all that trouble – it only gets three outings. How very Bob.