By Tony Attwood
I have on occasion come across cover versions of songs written by Bob Dylan and I find myself thinking, “how on earth did the performer (or perhaps arranger) get from Bob’s original song to this cover version?”
At such a moment I am not making a particular value judgement about the way the song has been treated, but rather expressing my amazement about how much the song can be changed (maybe through the speed of the performance, or the emotions delivered within the song, or come to that virtually anything else) while still being the same song.
So I am going to make a request: if you know of a recording of a version of a Dylan song that takes us a long way from the original and which maybe we haven’t covered before, please do email with the details. If you can attach an online link copy of the recording so much the better, but if not I’ll try and go looking.
Here’s an example…
It was only when I got this far, that I realised others had trod this road before me, so of course this isn’t an actual “Untold” report. Ah well, finding recordings like this is still fun…. I can’t believe that dear old William was serious when he did this….
And then there is this…. again were they serous? I think not…
Now I had to admit that after finding those three I really needed a drink, but because I am typing this at 9.30am, and I do (in my later life) ensure that I don’t have any form of alcohol until the evening , I really didn’t think I could cope with any more like this.
But if you can supply a suggestion – ideally with a link to the recording on line so we can all share it, that would be good. We’ll be back to serious considerations of Bob’s work soon enough, but there’s no harm in being amazed by some of the strange things people do.
However if you are sitting down and you want to surprise yourself click on this one…
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ-b9ViZtOo
After hearing that I think I really do need a drink, but no, as I said, not this early in the day. But I will add one more strange thing that strikes me…. one or two of the lines, even though sung without any meaning, suddenly resonate in a way that I am not sure they have done before. That doesn’t excuse the performance but it is strange.
For once I am rather pleased no one took any notice of my compositions. I am not sure how I would have coped with a treatment like that. (Oh yes and if you do play that link to the end, watch out, it continues in the same style although not with another Bob song).
Tomorrow I shall attempt to return to planet Earth.