Bob Dylan: Never-Ending Covers (Cover By Cover)

And hindsight tells us to consider this one ... but I don't believe that it was released yet in 1988.

 

I think it was this one:
I'm in the Mood for Love »

BTW: Anytime I hear this song, playwright George S. Kaufman's parody of the first line always comes to mind: "I'm in the mood for love/simply because it's Tuesday..."

 

"I'm Glad I Got to See You Once Again"
NET Premiere - Hollywood 8-4-88

A one-off performance at the end of the acoustic set on the second night in Hollywood.

Once again, the Dylan performance can't be found online (by me, anyway), but here is the Hank Snow original:

 

Deportees I think is Bob's greatest cover. The song suits his voice so well, he knows the song deeply and with Joanie it's also my favourite Bob duet.

 

"We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)"
NET Premiere: 8-6-88 - Carlsbad, Ca.

Dylan had pulled this one out a couple of times on the '86 tour with The Heartbreakers. This is a one-off for the NET.

Unfortunately, again, no Dylan performance can be found online.

Two influential versions suggest themselves:

 

Perhaps he is a French Canadian from the Maritime provinces (Acadian = Cajun)...

 

"She's About a Mover"
NET Premiere - 8/24/88 - Edmonton

For the second encore in Edmonton, Dylan and the band are joined by Doug Sahm, who sings his old hit from the Sir Douglas Quintet.

 

I love Dylan's folk covers. I'd be going to see him this year if he was doing this stuff rather than standards.

I remember hearing Barbara Allen at a Jones Beach show 88 or 89...that song haunted me for years. Was'nt until it was on a boot I got in the late 90's that I heard it again and knew what it was. My favorite cover..with Lakes of Pontchartrain a close second.

 

He did "Barbara Allen" at the second Jones Beach show (7-1) in '88 (he did "Lakes of Pontchartain" and "Eileen Aroon" the first night). Jones Beach '89 had the brief reappearance of Kenny Aaronson in the second electric set, and had no covers (a relative rarity for the period).

 

There is a bootleg set essential to anyone interested in this stuff. Many of you may have it. The Genuine Never Ending Tour Covers Collection 1988-2000. Eight CDs chock full of goodies. I dont think any songs are repeated.
Think I'll put it on!

 

He did She's About A Mover again, without Doug this time, 12 years later in Portland, on the first date of the US summer 2000 tour. A nice rolicking version, with a decent Dylan guitar solo and the ever-excellent Campbell and Sexton on backing vocals.

 

You were swindled. My copy is 9 CDs.

 

Nice find. I think of this one as the "in memory of" performance.

 

Bob and Doug of course had some nice history together, with Dylan playing on an album's worth of material with the Doug Sahm Band. Only half of the Doug Sahm Band features Bob, and then a few more tracks made it on Texas Tornado, and then everything (including the already mentioned along with some previously unreleased outtakes) on the Genuine Texas Groover set.



I recognize Dr. John, but is that supposed to be Bob playing guitar?

As for She's About A Mover, the version with Doug Sahm is smoking hot. As for the later version, Dylan's vocal is a little too raw and all over the place. The music, on the other hand, is tops. Maybe a tad tamer this time around, but it cooks.

 

The '88 version is unusually tight for a "special guest" encore, and it sounds like the band had been playing the song their whole lives.

I'm guessing that's Bob in purple on the album cover???

 

"Wagoner's Lad"

NET Premiere: 10-14-88 - Upper Darby, Pa.

He may have saved the best one for last for 1988. He did this song at the final 5 shows of Interstate '88 (all of which I attended), and it was a nightly highlight. For a traditional, this song has some surprisingly Dylan-esque lyrics.

"Her parents were against me, and now she is the same, if I writ on your book love, you just blot out my name."
"I work for a living, my money's my own, and them that don't like it can leave me alone."

Once again, sadly, I struck out trying to find a performance on YouTube.

Here is what appears to be the earliest known recording, and a likely source. Joan Baez performed the song from a female perspective, and The Kingston Trio performed a slightly different strain of the song.



"Rambler Gambler", which appeared on "No Direction Home", shares some lyrics with "Wagoner's Lad".
Rambler, Gambler »

 

Hey @RayS I am enjoying the videos posted in this thread a whole heckuva lot! Great idea.

It would be cool if Sony became inspired to do an official acoustic early NET "field recordings". Of course, they'd have you do the notes for the set.

To me -- songs that are this significant to folk music history -- by an artist who is (ahem) also quite significant -- well, this just needs some official recognition, somewhere, somehow.

-- David

 

I was reviewing the covers from 1988, and it turns out I missed one (well, at least one).

"Big River"
NET Premiere - 8/7/88 in Santa Barbara

Dylan/Cash version from 1969:

 

I was there. Nearly browned my trousers.

 

Obviously the influential version for Dylan was Johnny Cash's original. Apart from the version from 1969 with Cash, we also have the 1967 Basement Tapes takes with The Band.



The song was a long time staple in The Grateful Dead repertoire, as this compilation video illustrates.

Grateful Dead - Big River Montage (1976, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1990, 1991) LoloYodel »

Dylan performed it with The Dead when he opened for them and guested on a few numbers during their set on their 2003 tour. Those shows were all released - but Dylan ever so helpfully refused to have his performances included on the official discs. There are also other NET performances.

 

So summing on 1988, there were 16 covers that we've discussed here. Placing them into 5 groups provides some insight, IMO.

Traditionals (all performed acoustically with G.E. Smith)
Lakes of Pontchartrain
Barbara Allen
Eileen Aroon
Trail of the Buffalo
Wagoner's Lad

"Crooner Songs" (30s-40s)
I'm in the Mood for Love
We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)

Influential Artists (50s-60s - Songs from artists who "made it" during Dylan's formative years)
San Francisco Bay Blues
Everybody's Movin'
Nadine (Is That You?)
I'm Glad I Got to See You Once Again
Give My Love to Rose
Big River

Contemporary Songs (80s)
Hallelujah
Across the Borderline

"Guest Star" Songs
She's About a Mover

A brief mention of the other songs covered (which didn't make the thread since they were officially released before the NET): Man of Constant Sorrow, Baby Let Me Follow You Down, Pretty Peggy-o, Rank Strangers to Me. "Two Soldiers" was performed in '88 and released on "World Gone Wrong" in 1993 ... so maybe it should have rated inclusion.

Here's a 1994 performance:



Learned from Jerry Garcia, apparently during the 1987 rehearsals/tour with The Grateful Dead.

A Jerry version: Jerry Garcia & David Grisman - Two Soldiers »

As Brother Karamozov suggests above, there is one heck of a CD here. Maybe someday. I'm going to be doing a bit of travelling, so it'll be a while before we plunge into 1989. Perhaps everyone can chime in with their favorite from 1988? I will cheat and pick two - "Hallelujah" and "Wagoner's Lad".

 

If you can pick two, so can I! I'll go with Hallelujah and Give My Love To Rose.

 

I nearly had tears in my eyes at how beautiful Lakes of Pontchartrain was that night at the Greek in LA on the 88 tour. Just amazing and emotional to me for some reason.

 

it's because the guy who "can't sing" can really F-ing sing.