OS#77 Complete Unknown Dylan Covers

Any time a new music biography hits the silver screen, there is lots to take into consideration. Does it seem real? Does the actor playing the rock star at least have a little resemblance? Is the subject doing the singing or did they dub the voice?That’s the way they did it back in the day, until they discovered Gary Busey could sound a little bit like Buddy Holly. So when Timothee Chalamet arrived fresh from Arrakis with plenty of dust in his craw, his Bob Dylan voice was fairly uncanny.Over 60 some years, there have been many Dylan covers. Few try to sound like the 2016 Nobel Laureate in Literature. After all the point of a good cover is to play homage to the author, but to also find something in the song that can become one’s own.How the artists we are about to listen to accomplished all that is strictly your call. Odds are there are some total obscurities on this list, as well as some memory joggers and forgotten favorites. The first Dylan song I ever heard was a cover and that’s what we are starting with. It is historic and cool, and quite different from the original. A wise and perfect song from a complete unknown had found its way to the biggest folk stars on the hootenanny planet. You might say it was a simple twist of fate..Oh, the foes will riseWith the sleep still in their eyesAnd they'll jerk from their beds and think they're dreamin'But they'll pinch themselves and squealAnd they'll know that it's for realThe hour that the ship comes inBlowin in the Wind - Peter Paul and MaryAll I Really Want to Do - CherIt Ain’t Me Babe - Johnny Cash & June CarterThe Times They Are A Changing - The ByrdsMasters of War - The Staple SingersA Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall - Leon RussellWith God On Our Side - The Neville BrothersAll Along the Watchtower - Dave MasonFrom a Buick 6 - Gary U S BondsPositively 4th Street - Johnny RiversLike a Rolling Stone - Sebastian CabotThe Ballad of Hollis Brown - Nina SimoneSimple Twist of Fate - Bryan FerryOne Too Many Mornings - The HighwaymenHearing a bunch of Dylan covers is a trip to an alternate universe. Just like a guided tour to the lives and times that have been lived while this hard rain has been falling. For the more than half century that Bob Dylan has been offering up takes on life lessons and the magic of time and how it messes with the soul, we’ve all been getting fooled. Bob Dylan loves music and art, but so much of his time has been spent playing on stage, speaking only through his songs, it’s pretty certain that he prefers being the riddle master of his own war, working out puzzles that turn into wisdom and cosmic hints that turn into songs. And when someone else tries to sing them, we get a whole other angle from a plethora of artists who want to give these puzzles a shot. Three for a quarter. The circus is always in town.I hope you enjoyed this episode of Old School, provoked and inspired by the new movie and titled Complete Unknown Dylan Covers. I had to toss more tunes than i got to play, but I’ll keep the close by and do a Volume II and some point in the near future.Professor Mikey's OLD SCHOOL I’m Professor Mikey. I write, research, remember, and produce every episode, and deal with all the different podcast companies so that you can hear this on Substack, Spotify, YouTube, Apple, and many other originators of 21st century radio. Anything you can do to help, be it a like, a subscription, a comment, or a share, would be much obliged.We just heard Bryan Ferry with a Simple Twist of Fate. Coming up, we watch the sun going down with a small group of friends who got together in the late 80s and called themselves The Highwaymen. Between them (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson., they’d seen one too many mornings.Colorized DON’T LOOK BACK This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe