Althouse: "Bob Dylan ran through the 18th century English folk song 'Pretty Saro' six consecutive times during the Self Portrait sessions in March 1970..."

August 8, 2013

"Bob Dylan ran through the 18th century English folk song 'Pretty Saro' six consecutive times during the Self Portrait sessions in March 1970..."

"... but none of those versions made the final cut for the album and the song remained in Columbia's vault for the past 43 years. The track never even leaked onto bootlegs, but on August 27th, it's finally coming out on Another Self Portrait, a 35-track box set of songs cut for Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning."

Details and video of the song here.

Here's the old "Self Portrait." "Another Self Portrait" will come out at the end of the month.

8 comments:

Heartless Aztec said...: Good to see yer takin' my advice for "More Bob" postings Perfesser. Here's a classic version by Bob & George of our fave Bob tune "If Not for You" from that same time frame.
YouTube.com/watch?v=tctzUNMp5po; 8/8/13, 10:35 AM
paul a'barge said...: Pre-ordered on ITunes (the version with 25 or so tunes, $28 or so). Muy cool.; 8/8/13, 10:47 AM
Amexpat said...: Those that say that Dylan can't sing or that he has a horrible voice should listen to "Pretty Saro".

Heard it earlier today for the first time and had to listen to it a few more times. He taps into a vein of sweet melancholy that's enchanting. Sounds like the same vein that he tapped into for some of the songs on "Nashville Skyline" and "New Morning".

That he left a superior song off of an album is no longer is a surprise.; 8/8/13, 11:05 AM
Cog said...: The tone of his voice here is like Nashville Skyline but this is more intimate. He said his voice changed from quitting smoking, one of the few times he explained his art. Dylan always took his responsibility to create seriously and left the explaining of it to others.; 8/8/13, 11:30 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: A Bob Dylan track that never even leaked onto bootlegs? Man, that's gotta be good. I can't wait to give my ears a treat--right after I give my eyes a treat by sticking red-hot needles in them.; 8/8/13, 12:26 PM
Methadras said...: It's a catch 22. If Dylan continues to live there will be posts on him. If he dies, the posts will never cease.; 8/8/13, 1:30 PM
Methadras said...: It's a catch 22. If Dylan continues to live there will be posts on him. If he dies, the posts will never cease.; 8/8/13, 1:30 PM
Bob_R said...: I went to Spotify and listened to Self Portrait. Hadn't listened to it in 30 years. My memories of it were not good, so I didn't even venture the $5 through Amazon (something I normally would have done.) It's still a mess of an album, unfocused and haphazard. But a lot of the production makes more sense now after Theme Time Radio Hour and the later albums Love and Theft and Tempest. I guess Dylan's affinity for pop stylings of the 40's and 50's had to be sort of hidden. He could bring himself to do a straight country album like Nashville Skyline, but he couldn't bring himself to do a whole album with pop background vocals. So he put together a grab bag. If he had done a radio hour about each side it might have gone over. But maybe not - hard to overstate how much resistance there was to pop music like "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" in 1970.; 8/8/13, 4:00 PM