Althouse: Bob Dylan doesn't cover songs. He uncovers them.

December 9, 2014

Bob Dylan doesn't cover songs. He uncovers them.

"I don’t see myself as covering these songs in any way. They’ve been covered enough. Buried, as a matter a fact. What [my band and I] are basically doing is uncovering them. Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day."

21 comments:

Gahrie said...: Considering all the covers done of his own songs, I'm not surprised that Dylan is getting some of his own back.; 12/9/14, 1:18 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: If I didn't know better I'd say that Dylan sounds like an arrogant asshole.

And I don't know any better.; 12/9/14, 1:27 PM
traditionalguy said...: Dylan never said he was humble. No one does what Dylan does and than says he is an ordinary person. That would be a deception.; 12/9/14, 1:42 PM
Nonapod said...: Similarly, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes don't just cover songs, they make them more awesomer.; 12/9/14, 1:43 PM
FullMoon said...: Now I can die happy.; 12/9/14, 2:15 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: After seeing Bob and his band in St Augustine last year my first thought on this project is to be afraid, be very afraid. Bob was completely unintelligible in his diction and pronunciation from the stage. Unintelligible would be understatement. Mr. Sinatra was very succinct \and precise in his use of words, phrases and locution. These are skills that Bob has lost and not had in decades. I'm a big Bob fan but frankly it's time for him to exit stage left.; 12/9/14, 2:16 PM
Curious George said...: Mary Burke uncovered a jobs plan, too.; 12/9/14, 2:29 PM
Carol said...: It seems to happen when you turn 60. That peer-induced fog lifts, and you realize how beautiful those old standards are.; 12/9/14, 2:38 PM
Saint Croix said...: How could he skip Songs for Swingin' Lovers?; 12/9/14, 2:40 PM
JSD said...: Singing behind the beat is not his bag. Willie Nelson has that one in spades, but Dylan has always been about the lyrics.; 12/9/14, 2:45 PM
Diamondhead said...: Surfed, his recording of Full Moon and Empty Arms came out in May (easily found on the web) and I think if you listen to it you will be surprised in the difference between what he sounds like live vs in the studio. I think his version of that song was pretty light-weight...I don't expect this to be an important album by any means, but it might be pretty enjoyable to listen to.; 12/9/14, 2:56 PM
Cassandra Lite said...: I hope he does My Way.

Jim Morrison wanted to be Sinatra.; 12/9/14, 3:20 PM
rehajm said...: Almost Famous is on Netflix this month. Amazing how many almost famous people were in it.; 12/9/14, 3:36 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: The greatest Sinatra song Frank never did was Michelle by Paul McCartney. The scene - Frank in a bombed out French cafe in WwII sitting wearily with a candle burning and a couple bottles of wine on the bar, his helmet pushed back over his forehead and speaking/singing "Michelle ma belle..."; 12/9/14, 3:48 PM
Bob R said...: It will be interesting. Dylan's been playing with a very good band that seems to have a good feel for songs of this era. Dylan's recent songs have a lot of the same vibe.

As for the comment, this is what everyone doing covers likes to think they are doing - putting a new interpretation on a well known song or bringing an unknown classic to a new audience. Dylan will probably have a better batting average at this than most. More often, we're just acting as a human jukebox, letting people hear songs played live on actual instruments.; 12/9/14, 3:56 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: I came home from a long day at the college only to find My Imaginary Bob Dylan Rapist on my couch, wearing a straw hat and playing harmonica.

"How did you get in here?"

"Do you know how to play harmonica?"

"No, but --"

"All women should know how to play harmonica, that's an American fact, that is what that is. A good woman with a harmonica can make a hardtop into a convertible, practically. V-8. Gas for a dollar."

"Why are you in my house?"

"I saw you at my show last night. You seemed a bit disappointed, like someone in short pants took your lucky peacock feather. Do you have a lucky peacock?"

"Uh. no..."

"I had a lucky peacock once but then I let him drive the bike."

"That's... sad. I guess."

"But you were disappointed."

"The show was... good."

"That's it? Good?"

"Very good. It was a very good show."

"I know, I know, I was watching you: you didn't like what I did with "Baby Blue," I threw in a few chords there that were just lying on the stage. Sometimes it's a GibGab when it oughta've been a RickyTick."

"It was just... different, that's all. It wasn't what I expected."

"Each night I treat my songs like a strange desirable woman, and I approach each of them in a different way: different pants, different dance. Plaid with suspenders, sometimes, big yellow buttons. Mama, as a strange desirable woman what song would YOU be?"

"I don't know how to answer that."

"I mean, I see you have a lot of my albums: you must feel like you know ME, at least..."

"They're just songs..."

"Just songs? Woman, it is if I never knew you."

"I mean, I only know you through your songs..."

"There's some of me in all of them. Some get a toenail, others get a toe. Do you like toes?"

"I'm really getting uncomfortable having you here..."

"After everything I've been for you over the years, don't you think Mama that -- just this once -- you'd let me suck on your toes?"

"Mr. Dylan, don't you have a hotel or a tourbus to go to? I can call you a cab..."

"Bob. Call me Bob. And Mama, I have all of the world waiting for me, but none of them know where the line starts. Let me tell you: I have sucked on the toes of Hollywood starlets and Saudi princesses with Persian cats, on SoHo Folksingers and Japansese gymnasts on gymnastic matts, but right now, I just wanna suck on your genuine honest-to-God middle-of-the-Midwest toes."

"I'd rather not..."

Midwestern toes are steady toes: they got that knuckle."

"I think you had better leave..."

"I wrote a lot of songs while sucking on a woman's foot: from God's Mouth to Her Toes, that's what I used to say when I used to say that a lot. The vandals got the handles but the ladies got the toes."

""I'm really not into having my toes sucked..."

"You know in "Come Together" when John Lennon sang "toe jam football" ? -- he stole that from ME."

"That's... interesting. I guess."

"Just ten minutes, baby: that's shorter than a lot of the songs I have written..."

"And then you'll leave?"

"Unless you want me to paint your toenails..."

And that is how I was toe-raped by my Imaginary Bob Dylan Rapist.

I am Laslo.; 12/9/14, 4:15 PM
William said...: Old C&W singers seem to age best. Willie Nelson does some fine work. So did Johnny Cash in his dotage. Frank Sinatra not so much. Very old, ole blue eyes just didn't have it. He sang the greatest ballads of middle aged regret, but his voice in old age was weak and frail. The fragility was not moving but desolate and empty. "Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang." I haven't heard Dylan lately, but I can't imagine his voice has gotten better with age. He never had a good voice, but it carried all the harshness of adolescent pains. I just don't think Dylan has any great insights into old age. Maybe if he sang Mr Tambourine man as Ozymandias meeting the shifting sands of time, I could get into it.; 12/9/14, 6:03 PM
Fernandinande said...: "On the second and ninth days of November 1938 at the Borough of Lodi" and "under the promise of marriage" Sinatra "did then and there have sexual intercourse with the said complainant, who was then and there a single female of good repute."; 12/9/14, 6:28 PM
eddie willers said...: I just don't think Dylan has any great insights into old age.

He should do a duet with Leonard Cohen on Tower Of Song.; 12/9/14, 7:12 PM
SteveR said...: When I saw Dylan fours years ago,every song was a cover of something, near as I could tell. Maybe.; 12/9/14, 7:27 PM
Ann Althouse said...: The song list is:

1. "I'm a Fool to Want You"
2. "The Night We Called It a Day"
3. "Stay With Me"
4. "Autumn Leaves"
5. "Why Try to Change Me Now"
6. "Some Enchanted Evening"
7. "Full Moon and Empty Arms"
8. "Where Are You?"
9. "What'll I Do"
10. "That Lucky Old Sun"; 12/9/14, 7:37 PM