Daily Dose of Dylan
Oct. 1st, 2005 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustWe haven't really mastered the technology yet - the technology in this case being a combination of tv, recorder, and listings magazine. So we came in halfway through last night's broadcast of a Dylan tribute concert - while Willy Mason was singing To Ramona. Willy who? Well, it says here he's the new Bob Dylan: sounds, on his own song at least, more like the old Phil Ochs, but that's OK. Most tribute concerts restrict themselves to songs by the tributee, but this one gave performers a wider choice on their second number, with some interesting results.
Next up, Billy Bragg tells of Dylan coming to London in the early 60s and meeting a mixed reception in the folk clubs: but he makes one friend with whom he goes home for Christmas, when it was so cold they had to chop up a piano with a samurai sword for firewood. A household where a spare piano and a samurai sword are easier to come by than firewood? Right... "froze up harder than a landlord's heart" This, of course, was Martin Carthy, who sang a sizzling version of The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (no one tells a story like Martin Carthy), and followed it with Scarborough Fair, played on the guitar on which he taught it to Bob Dylan (and, presumably, to Paul Simon, though he didn't mention that).
Roy Harper obligingly followed with Girl from the North Country, Liam Clancy reminisced about the old days in New York (one piece of pure gossip from Billy Bragg's intro, that Liam Clancy was going out with Carla Rotolo while Dylan was going out with Suze: put that in your Ballad in Plain D and strum it!)...
Later:...when Dylan was stealing traditional tunes - and sometimes more than tunes: Clancy sang a verse of The Parting Glass, with which every session at the White Horse closed, and then sang Restless Farewell, a favourite of mine, claiming the lines:
as an accurate description of the White Horse at the end of a session.
Neither Barb Jungr and Robyn Hitchcock really did it for me: I didn't enjoy Barb Jungr's treatment of Like a Rolling Stone, though it certainly didn't commit the sin of trying to reproduce Dylan's version.
Likewise, Not Dark Yet doesn't strike me as one of the man's best songs: but at least by choosing to sing it, Robyn Hitchcock established that we had not slipped into some alternative reality in which the concert was being held as a tribute to the Bob Dylan who died in the motorcycle accident. It wasn't clear why it was being held - it just seems to be Dylan season. Self-indulgent? If you like, but an evening of people singing Dylan, mostly well and occasionally brilliantly, indulges me as well as itself: now, if only they had included Martin Simpson, who is unsurpassed as an interpreter of Dylan, I'd be a very happy bunny.
If the last act to appear is the biggest star, that honour goes to K.T. Tunstall; born in the year Blood on the Tracks was released, she took the simple option of singing the first two tracks on that album: a rousing Tangled up in Blue and a wistful Simple Twist of Fate, both extremely impressive. And, since the place of encores was taken by a couple of duets, she returned (after a sweet and nostalgic Blowing in the Wind from Liam Clancy and - good grief! - Odetta) to join Billy Bragg in a truly wonderful This Wheel's on Fire.
Given that BBC4 tends to repeat its programmes, we'd better get to work on recording from digital: there were several things there well worth the effort.
Next up, Billy Bragg tells of Dylan coming to London in the early 60s and meeting a mixed reception in the folk clubs: but he makes one friend with whom he goes home for Christmas, when it was so cold they had to chop up a piano with a samurai sword for firewood. A household where a spare piano and a samurai sword are easier to come by than firewood? Right... "froze up harder than a landlord's heart" This, of course, was Martin Carthy, who sang a sizzling version of The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (no one tells a story like Martin Carthy), and followed it with Scarborough Fair, played on the guitar on which he taught it to Bob Dylan (and, presumably, to Paul Simon, though he didn't mention that).
Roy Harper obligingly followed with Girl from the North Country, Liam Clancy reminisced about the old days in New York (one piece of pure gossip from Billy Bragg's intro, that Liam Clancy was going out with Carla Rotolo while Dylan was going out with Suze: put that in your Ballad in Plain D and strum it!)...
Later:...when Dylan was stealing traditional tunes - and sometimes more than tunes: Clancy sang a verse of The Parting Glass, with which every session at the White Horse closed, and then sang Restless Farewell, a favourite of mine, claiming the lines:
But the bottles are done,
We've killed each one
And the table's full and overflowed.
And the corner sign
Says it's closing time,
as an accurate description of the White Horse at the end of a session.
Neither Barb Jungr and Robyn Hitchcock really did it for me: I didn't enjoy Barb Jungr's treatment of Like a Rolling Stone, though it certainly didn't commit the sin of trying to reproduce Dylan's version.
Likewise, Not Dark Yet doesn't strike me as one of the man's best songs: but at least by choosing to sing it, Robyn Hitchcock established that we had not slipped into some alternative reality in which the concert was being held as a tribute to the Bob Dylan who died in the motorcycle accident. It wasn't clear why it was being held - it just seems to be Dylan season. Self-indulgent? If you like, but an evening of people singing Dylan, mostly well and occasionally brilliantly, indulges me as well as itself: now, if only they had included Martin Simpson, who is unsurpassed as an interpreter of Dylan, I'd be a very happy bunny.
If the last act to appear is the biggest star, that honour goes to K.T. Tunstall; born in the year Blood on the Tracks was released, she took the simple option of singing the first two tracks on that album: a rousing Tangled up in Blue and a wistful Simple Twist of Fate, both extremely impressive. And, since the place of encores was taken by a couple of duets, she returned (after a sweet and nostalgic Blowing in the Wind from Liam Clancy and - good grief! - Odetta) to join Billy Bragg in a truly wonderful This Wheel's on Fire.
Given that BBC4 tends to repeat its programmes, we'd better get to work on recording from digital: there were several things there well worth the effort.
Re: A great gig...
Date: 2005-10-26 09:08 pm (UTC)Re: A great gig...
Date: 2005-10-26 09:34 pm (UTC)