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Never Just One Thing, Part XV: The Glory of Dylan, Covered


How many truly great songs does it take for a composer to qualify as having a timeless and even epic body of work? Ella Fitzgerald recorded her classic Songbook series, in which she performed the best of the giants of the Great American Songbook: Porter, Arlen, Gershwin, Ellington, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rodgers and Hart, and so on. These collections generally include about 32 songs or so, and you know that there were plenty of gems that didn't make the cut. There was a super Chuck Berry collection called The Great Twenty-Eight, which is sheer perfection and leaves off a truckload of first-rate songs. I had a Creedence Clearwater collection with about the same number of songs. In all of these cases we are talking about songs that are utterly unimpeachable, blending craftsmanship and inspiration of the highest order, in proper measure. So if you take the number 30 and then add 20 or so more they didn't have room for on those best-of's you get 50 perfect songs as the measure of sustained genius. Or let's say 40. Bear in mind, these are out of hundreds of songs that the composers produced.

If we consider the Beatles, one could easily make a list of 100 songs that are timeless and touched with grace. This makes their batting average exceedingly high since they don't have a huge overall catalog. The Stones have an incredible catalogue as well. Of course, when you love an artist or band you like pretty much everything they do, and not just the clear standout tracks. Back in the day, there actually was no such thing as "deep cuts." Everybody who was into music knew every song on every album by their faves.  But in the age of digital streaming certain songs float to the top and hog all the attention. Thus the "deep" songs tend to languish below the surface, until someone pulls them up for notice. But I digress. Let's turn to the subject of this essay: Bob Dylan.

How strong is Dylan's body of work? Here's an example. In 2012, Amnesty International released Chimes of Freedom, a Dylan tribute album which featured 73 Dylan covers, all donated by the artists to help the Amnesty cause. Keep that number in mind when I note that one song not included was "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," which in my view is easily among his top ten songs. That's how deep the catalog is! More than 70 tracks and a song that charmed doesn't make the cut. Ponder that. Once I realized this oddity, I checked some other lists and it wasn't there, either. In the eyes of many, it would seem, "Tom Thumb" is a "deep cut." Never mind that 90 percent of songwriters would kill to have one song that good. Here's another measure of Dylan's genius. Many of his greatest songs were never even included on his albums and were only heard as outtakes and bootlegs.

The extent and quality of Dylan's oeuvre is what makes it so fertile for collections such as Chimes. His songs are also ripe for covering because they are based on traditional forms, which make them pliable and prime for adaptation or personalization. Because Bob's catalog is so huge, I actually find myself listening to collections more than specific albums. This means I am indeed missing out on some deep cuts, but taken together I am engaging with, say, a hundred or more superb songs. Here's what's been on my playlist. I love the Chimes collection, of course, and have also had 1992's 30th anniversary concert, commemorating 30 years of Dylan as a recording artist, on heavy rotation. It has 30 or more strong performances from a nice array of heavyweights. Another good way to go is to listen to collections such as Dylan Essentials on Apple Music, or something equivalent on Spotify. These will usually collect 40 or 50 songs or so. I'm also a huge fan of the very first in the Dylan bootleg series, Bootlegs Vol. 1- 3, 1961 to 1991. There's something really engaging about this set.

Now let's dig in a little by exploring the 30th anniversary concert, dubbed by Neil Young during the show as "Bobfest," a name that has stuck. In revisiting it, it struck me that this might be the greatest rock concert ever, on a par with or exceeding The Last Waltz. First of all, it's just insane to have a set list that's wall-to-wall with classics like this. What makes it unique is that Dylan himself would never perform a concert like this, because there is no way he is simply going to play his greatest hits. That would bore him to death. But here, that's what we get. Also noteworthy is that all the musicians are on fire, without a rote or flat performance to be found. Frankly, everyone, including the audience, was stoked about what was going to be going down at Madison Square Garden that night. With a house band that included the surviving members of Booker T and the MG's, plus guitarist G.E. Smith, who was with Dylan's touring band at the time, you had a solid musical foundation for all the guest stars.

Speaking of whom: Do you want to hear Neil Young doing "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" with incendiary "Powderfinger"-style guitar soloing? Yes, you do, in fact you never knew what you were missing until you heard it this way. Young's vocals are jaded AF, matching the tone of the lyrics, and the guitar work makes it next-level stuff. He follows it with a similarly guitar-heavy "All Along the Watch Tower." Do you want to hear Eric Clapton do "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" with a bit a vocal snarl and his patented majestic blues arias on guitar? Yes, you do. Indeed, this performance was so strong that even the band was applauding when he finished. The truth is that Clapton's recording career never came to much after the early days, but his live performances have never waned at all, and really constitute his musical identity.

Let's see, what else? The real sleeper for me was the Clancy Brothers doing "When the Ship Comes In." In a way, their appearance is unusual or unexpected here, as they are not rock stars. But they do represent the actual scene that Dylan joined when he arrived in the Village in the early 60s. Their sound is rousing and joyous, and I can imagine how they inspired the beers to flow in the pubs back in the day. (I wish I'd been there!) And rousing definitely is the word for their take here. A perfect fit with the lyrics assuring us that justice will, in due course, arrive for all the underdogs. Okay, moving on. I think it was a search for Tom Petty's performance of "License to Kill" that brought me back to this concert after so many years. As always he and the Heartbreakers are impeccably tight and in sync, deploying an arrangement that brings out the drama of the song. They immediately follow this rather contemplative number with a rowdy, good-times rendition of "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," you know, "Everybody must get stoned." A perfect one-two punch. 

How strong is your set list when you lead off with "Like a Rolling Stone," the greatest rock song of all time? The drop-off from there to the rest of the songs is so negligible that you felt you could just go ahead and hit them with the ultimate shot to open. John Mellencamp performs it here followed by a fun, bluesy "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat." I really like the performance of "You Ain't Going Nowhere" from Mary Chapin Carpenter, Roseanne Cash, and Shawn Colvin, three exemplars of alt-country in the 80s and 90s. The cadence of the lyrics makes this a timelessly engaging song. Memorably, it was the lead cut on the Byrds' seminal Sweetheart of the Rodeo. George Harrison, yes, George Harrison, demonstrates what a great singer he was on "Absolutely Sweet Marie." I won't go through everything, but you get a moving "I Shall Be Released" from Chrissie Hynde, and a superb "Emotionally Yours" from the O'Jays.

Finally, as we move toward the end of the show, Roger McGuinn joins Tom Petty for the Byrds' arrangement of "Mr. Tambourine Man," the hit that invented folk-rock and introduced the chiming, jingle-jangle sound that lives on in rock music to this day. Now, Bob himself comes out. And, I've got to say, his own contributions aren't necessarily highlights, as his voice was entering what I consider to be sort of an eccentric phase. That said, what do we get? First, a solo "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)." A high-water mark of 60s poetic lyricism, it famously reminded us that "he not busy being born is busy dying." Amen. Then comes the early ode to rebirth "My Back Pages," with McGuinn, Petty, Clapton, Harrison, and Young, and with everyone taking a verse. This is Bob's early Declaration of Independence, informing the folk establishment "Equality I spoke the word / as if a wedding vow" and "But I was so much older then / I'm younger than that now." A personal favorite that I'm glad they chose to highlight. Next, everybody comes out for "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." After massive applause Bob comes back out by himself for "Girl From the North Country," reminding himself and us where he came from and the feelings he felt when it all was just getting started.


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