By Tony Attwood
I came across some recordings of Chris Smither – of whom we’ve alrady done a review – which of course like most (although not all) of our articles are still up here on the website.
And so rather than drop Chris Smither’s songs into the articles in A Dylan Cover A Day, I thought I’d do this terrific musician the honour of a special for himself – which he most certainly deserves. (OK appearing on this site is not exactly an honour, but it seemed a reasonable turn of phrase when I wrote it, and if I could honour Chris Smither I would). If you want to know about this extraordinary performer there is a Wiki page on him of course, and of course he has his own website
So what do Chris Smither do? Well, most obviously he often uses open tuning on the guitar, which I am not sure Bob does very much if at all (forgive me I’ve never checked – I just can’t recall where Bob does this. Do tell if you’ve spotted it). If you are not familiar with the way guitarists like to get more out of their guitar, there is a standard set up for the tuning of guitar strings (E A D G B E – going from the lowest to the highest) but there is nothing to stop anyone changing the tuning.
The most popular alternative tunings gives a chord of D or G when the open strings are played, but others are possible. Perhaps the most interesting thing is that if one then plays some of the chord fingerings from the standard tuning, while the guitar is tuned in an alternative way, all sorts of interesting and unusual chords emerge. It is an approach that has inspired many a performer looking for a way of giving the guitar a new sound, and of playing some chords one has not used before.
As I noted elsewhere I really had not heard this sort of approach to Dylan before I came across Chis Smither. And OK maybe there are others out there, but I live in rural Northamptonshire, and the local folk are still discussing the notion of introducing this new fangled daily postal service idea to the area, so news from elsewhere is a little slow. (I’m kidding; I’m very happy here and would hate anyone to think otherwise).
Anyway, moving on….
“Visions” as you may have noticed, is one of my own continuing favourites, not just because it is an utterly magnificent composition, but also I suppose it reflected a lot of my own thoughts when it was first released when I was in my last year at school and trying to come to terms with this whole relationship issue.
And, if you will forgive me, there is something else within this thought. For Dylan is the one artist that I have listened to (and of course seen/heard in concerts) and stayed with through my life from my late teenage years. I have, in short grown up with and lived with this song as part of my life. Which is something one has to take into account. Let me explain…
Like all Dylan fans I know the album recording of this song inside out. And perhaps like you I have benefitted from being able to play the Never Ending Tour recordings that are on this site…. Indeed it was this song I was thinking of when I first considered the idea of the series “Can a Bob Dylan song be a life changing experience”
My point has been that this song has existed within me ever since I bought the album in 1966. Instrumentally it is very easy to play at a basic level, but very difficult to inject with something original if one wants to play it to an audience that already knows the song. It is of course easy to make changes to it, but to make changes to it that others like… that is harder.
Probably one of the most extraordinary versions that I havefound in later life is that of Cat Power who apart from delivering a powerful set of lyrics, seems to me to use the harmonica particularly well.
Of course for many performers, the problem is tht so many others have already recorded the song. that it is hard to know what to do with the song. Cat Power gets it right by not going too far, but going far enough in terms of the changes made.
Emma Swift stayed with the simple guitar accompaniment because she has what the male singers don’t have: that ability to sing over several octaves while ensuring that nothing sounds forced or extended.
But when you listen to this – and you might want to hold this idea for the second or third time you play this recording – listening to the accompaniment. And next time listen to the way she shortens and extends certain lines. Put it all together and it is something to marvel over….
But eternally I am still left with something else. I have, for most of the existence of this website, written my contributions in the same room. There’s nothing special about that – after my second divorce I moved to a house in the English countryside where I could hide when I wanted to, but could reach a few folk clubs and dance clubs if I felt strong enough.
So I have been writing Untold articles looking at the same trees and undergrowth for most of the life of this website, while accompanied by Dylan songs for maybe 25 years. Those same trees are still there, as are the Dylan songs. They make it all seem so…. important.
(Just to clarify, due to some technical issues I have had to remove some of the early articles from this site, but I think with those that are left, you can still get the essence of what I am trying to say).