Seventy

Bob Dylan is seventy today. Here's seventy versions of songs that he's written. I was hard pressed to narrow it down to seventy, so that's saying something and I think it's enough. These are the songs that folks will still be interpreting in another seventy years.

Happy Birthday Bob.

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Download:

"Please Mrs. Henry" mp3
by Peter Laughner, 1972.
unreleased radio session

"Million Dollar Bash" mp3
by the Fairport Convention, 1969.
available on Unhalfbricking

"Baby Blue" mp3
by the Chocolate Watchband, 1968.
available on Inner Mystique/One Step Beyond

"Like A Rolling Stone" mp3
by the Soup Greens, 1965.
available on Pebbles, Vol. 1

"She Belongs To Me" mp3
by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, 1966.
available on Volume 1





"I'll Keep It with Mine"mp3
by Betty Serveert, 1996.
available on I Shot Andy Warhol

"Stepchild"mp3
by Solomon Burke, 2002.
available on Don't Give Up on Me

"Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" mp3
by Jimi Hendrix, 1967.
available on BBC Sessions

"Positively 4th Street" mp3
by Lucinda Williams, 1991.
available on In Their Own Words Volume 1

"I Threw It All Away" mp3
by Yo La Tengo, 1987.
available on President Yo La Tengo / New Wave Hot Dogs





"Spanish Harlem Incident" mp3
by the Byrds, 1965.
available on Mr Tambourine Man

"Down Along The Cove" mp3
by Johnny Jenkins, 1970.
available on Ton-Ton Macoute

"If Not For You" mp3
by George Harrison, 1970.
acoustic demo

"I Believe In You" mp3
by Cat Power, 2008.
available on Jukebox





"Maggie's Farm" mp3
by Solomon Burke, 1965.
available on Platinum Collection

"It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry" mp3
by Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper & Stephen Stills, 1968.
available on Super Session

"Can't Leave Her Behind" mp3
by Stephen Malkmus & Lee Ranaldo, 2007.
available on I'm Not There

"Gates Of Eden" mp3
by Marc Carroll, 2003.
available on All Wrongs Reversed

"Up To Me" mp3
by Roger McGuinn, 1976
available on Cardiff Rose





"Mama, You Been On My Mind" mp3
by the Beatles, 1969.
unreleased outtake

"Man Gave Names To All The Animals" mp3
by Townes Van Zandt, 1994.
available on Roadsongs

"Love Minus Zero – No Limit" mp3
by Buck Owens & His Buckaroos, 1971.
available on Bridge Over Troubled Water

"You Ain't Going Nowhere" mp3
by the Byrds, 1968.
available on Sweetheart of the Rodeo

"On A Night Like This" mp3
by Los Lobos, 2003.
available on Masked & Anonymous

"Going, Going, Gone" mp3
by Son Volt, 2000.
available on A Retrospective 1995-2000 EP

"I Was Young When I Left Home" mp3
by Antony with Bryce Dessner, 2009.
available on Dark Was the Night

"Billy" mp3
by Gillian Welch, 2006.
available on Music From The Revelator

"Buckets of Rain" mp3
by Vic Chesnutt, 2003.
available on Crossing Jordan

"Dark Eyes" mp3
by Dirty Projectors, 2010.
Like A Version Radio Session





"Knockin' On Heavens Door" mp3
by Television, 1977.
available on The Blow Up

"Every Grain Of Sand" mp3
by Emmylou Harris, 1995.
unreleased demo

"Girl Of The North Country" mp3
by Howard Tate, 1972.
available on Howard Tate

"Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" mp3
by Esther Phillips, 1969.
available on Best of Esther Phillips (1962-70)

"I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" mp3
by Bobby Darin, 1972.
available on Aces Back to Back

"One Too Many Mornings" mp3
by Jerry Jeff Walker, 1977.
available on A Man Must Carry On

"Tomorrow Is A Long Time" mp3
by Nick Drake, 1968.
available on Family Tree

"Don't Think Twice It's Alright" mp3
by Waylon Jennings, 1964.
available on Phase One: The Early Years 1958-1964

"It Ain't Me Babe" mp3
by Johnny Cash & June Carter, 1967.
available on Carryin' On With Johnny Cash & June Carter





"Love Is Just a Four Letter Word" mp3
by Joan Baez, 1968.
available on Vanguard Sessions: Baez Sings Dylan

"Only a Hobo" mp3
by Hazel Dickens, 1985.
available on It's Hard to Tell the Singer From the Song

"Blowin' In The Wind" mp3
by O.V. Wright, 1970.
available on How Many Roads: Black America Sings Bob Dylan

"Fur Slippers" mp3
by B.B. King, 1999.
available on Shake Rattle & Roll

"Percy's Song" mp3
by the Fairport Convention, 1969.
available on Unhalfbricking

"Ballad Of Hollis Brown" mp3
by Tony Joe White, 1968.
available on Swamp Music: the Complete Monument Recordings





"Changing Of The Guards" mp3
by Patti Smith, 2007.
available on Twelve

"A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" mp3
by Bryan Ferry, 1973.
available on These Foolish Things

"Tell Me Mama" mp3
by Robyn Hitchcock, 2002.
available on Robyn Sings

"She's Your Lover Now" mp3
by Luxuria w/ Howard Devoto, 1988.
b-side of Redneck single.
out of print

"If You Gotta Go, Go Now" mp3
by Mae West, 1966.
available on Way Out West
out of print

"Baby, I'm In The Mood For You" mp3
by Dion, 1965.
available on Bronx Blues: The Columbia Recordings (1962 - 1965)

"Rita May" mp3
by Jerry Lee Lewis, 1979.
available on Jerry Lee Lewis Box Set

"Wallflower" mp3
by Buddy and Julie Miller,
available on Buddy & Julie Miller

"Halls Of Justice/Positively 4th Street/Like A Rolling Stone" mp3
by Terry Melcher, 1974.
available on Terry Melcher

"When I Paint My Masterpiece" mp3
by the Band, 1971.
available on Cahoots

"Goin' To Acapulco" mp3
by Jim James & Calexico, 2007.
available on I'm Not There

"Nothing Was Delivered" mp3
by the Byrds, 1968.
available on Sweetheart of the Rodeo

"Too Much of Nothing" mp3
by Albert Lee, 1969.
available on Thats All Right Mama





"Wanted Man" mp3
by Johnny Cash, 1969.
available on Essential Johnny Cash

"Seven Days" mp3
by Ron Wood, 1979.
available on Gimme Some Neck

"George Jackson" mp3
by JP Robinson, 1972.
available on Sanctified Soul

"Winterlude" mp3
by Joe Ely, 2005.
available on To: Kate a Benefit for Kate's Sake





"This Wheel's On Fire" mp3
by the Band, 1968.
available on Music From Big Pink

"Tears Of Rage" mp3
by Gene Clark, 1971.
available on Gene Clark (aka White Light)

"Most Of The Time" mp3
by Sophie Zelmani, 2003.
available on Masked & Anonymous

"Emotionally Yours" mp3
by the O'Jays, 2006.
available on Beautiful Ballads

"Paths of Victory" mp3
by Cat Power 2000.
available on The Covers Record

"City Of Gold" mp3
by the Dixie Hummingbirds, 2003.
available on Masked & Anonymous

"Just Like A Woman" mp3
by Nina Simone, 1971.
available on To Be Free- The Nina Simone Story

"Farewell Angelina" mp3
by Jeff Buckley, 1992
from WFMU's The Music Faucet
(courtesy: Nicholas Hill)

"I Shall Be Released" mp3
by the Flying Burrito Brothers, 1970.
available on Farther Along: Best Of The Flying Burrito Brothers

Shopping List

flour
toilet tissue (pink)
broccli 2 frozen
potatoes small onions (few)
a loaf of bread (Colonial)
manayaise (Miracle Whip)
lettuce
1 chicken (cut up)
2 pds thick sliced (Hunlas) bacon

and One Mint Julep




Download:

"One Mint Julep" mp3
by Ray Charles, 1961.
arranged by Quincy Jones
available on Genius + Soul = Jazz

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Ray Charles photo by Joe Adams

A Century of Big Joe

Big Joe Turner lookin’ east and west
From the dark room of his mind
He made it to Kansas City
Twelfth Street and Vine

-Bob Dylan "High Water (for Charley Patton)"


Big Joe Turner was born one-hundred years ago today. I could listen to him all day long. In fact, I may just do that. It's my birthday too. Bob Dylan is gonna be seventy next week. That's pretty old to be dragging your ass and a rock' n roll band all over the world every year. I tip my hat to him, and he tips his hat to Big Joe at least twice on 2001's Love & Theft. First, by name check (cited above) and second, by melody on "Summer Days." Songwriter, Doc Pomus said his life was changed when as a fifteen year old kid he first heard Joe Turner's record, "Piney Brown Blues," a recording that merged Jazz and Blues into an intersection of what would become R & B and eventually Rock 'n Roll. Pomus modeled his early singing style after Turner's deep wide shout, and later wrote songs for him including "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" which you can hear below. The other side of that record, "Corrine, Corrina," was a blues standard and recorded by dozens artists. It was written by Bo Chatmon, fiddler for the Mississippi Sheiks, (whose music Dylan is well acquainted with). However, I'd venture to say that it was most likely this version that Bob Dylan first heard as a teenager.

"Get it Daddy, get it!"

Download:



"Boogie Woogie Country Girl" mp3
by Joe Turner, 1956.
available on Very Best of Big Joe Turner



"Corrine, Corrina" mp3
by Joe Turner, 1956.
available on Very Best of Big Joe Turner

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"Boogie Woogie Country Girl" mp3
by Bob Dylan, 1995.
available on Till the Night Is Gone: Tribute to Doc Pomus
out of print

"Corrina, Corrina" mp3
by Bob Dylan, 1962.
available on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan Outakes
out of print

30/40 Days

Ernest Tubb is gonna call up the gypsy woman, and she's sending out a worldwide hoodoo. Those are Chuck Berry's words of course, and it's a gift to us to hear Tubb sing them on his 1955 version of "Thirty Days" released two months after Chuck put out his second single for Chess. They both raced up the R&B and Country charts respectively, and established Chuck Berry as a first rate crossover artist/songwriter. Berry's guitar solo is chunky and rhythmic, soaring over and leading the rhythm section. Tubb calls out to his soloists: Billy Byrd, "Half-Moon" Bradley, and Tommy Jackson of the Texas Troubadours, making it sound like his own. It was, after all, Berry's version of Bob Wills' "Ida Red" (a western swing number) that finally caught Leonard Chess's ear (on the insistence of Chess star Muddy Waters) from his homemade audition tape earlier that year. It evolved into "Maybellene," his first single.

Ronnie Hawkins recorded a blistering rockabilly version as "Forty Days." Maybe he was a more patient man giving his woman an extra ten days to come back home. Or perhaps, it's a biblical reference to Noah's Ark, after living with the torrential rains and flooding back home in Arkansas, where he and his band, including teenage drummer Levon Helm, had fled for the brighter pastures of the Toronto music scene.

Chuck Berry's liaison to Chess, Muddy Waters, recorded a single (different song) "Forty Days & Forty Nights" around this time with future murderer Pat Hare on guitar. Waters, also using the biblical reference, is "like a ship out on the sea" waiting for forty days and nights, and it's "raining all the time." His lover hasn't returned and most likely won't.




"Thirty Days" mp3
by Ernest Tubb, 1955.
available on Thirty Days - Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight



"Forty Days" mp3
by Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks, 1958.
available on Roulette Years



"Forty Days & Forty Nights" mp3
by Muddy Waters, 1956.
available on The Chess Box: Muddy Waters

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"Thirty Days" mp3
by Chuck Berry, 1955.
available on Johnny B Goode: His Complete 50's Chess Recordings

Johnny B Goode: His Complete 50's Chess Recordings

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available on King of Western Swing