https://youtu.be/1b2RUpzW6IM?list=PLUMq4sB5dsC_d6qnAP__T3cttYqz8oEJ_
which seems to be funny little movie soundtrack using Dylan's original?
My favourite version is a toss up between Linda Rondstadt and The Grateful Dead, but each time I look on YouTube, I come across more and more versions, Medcine Head - Pommie band from the early 1970's which I'd almost forgotten about, Nina Simone, Bryan Ferry - inspired me to listen to my first Roxy Music album - their first Roxy Music album too! Eponymous? (Roxy Music as the title, not Eponymous! I seem to get ever more twisted.)
Townes Van Zandt - I'd never heard of him until a couple of weeks back, and my brother thought he was in Lynryd Skynryd. I've been working my way through various albums and artists on YouTube and I think Townes Van Zandt is my favourite so far (apart from The Beatles and The Stones of course!) (Isn't that the title of a song by ? The House of Love ?)
I'm playing Linda Rondstadt's version now. I did not realize that she is ill with Parkinson's Disease. I watched part of an interview with her on YouTube.
I might have to play The Greatful Dead's version too, there are numerous ones on YouTube but my favourite is a live version circa 1990. Would you believe that I'd never heard a song by The Grateful Dead until a couple of years ago? I loved Creedence Clearwater Revival - the first band (apart from The Beatles) that I really held a torch for - is there a more perfect pop song than 'Proud Mary?' - but I never got into bands like The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. Typical of my luck that I 'chose' the band that 'imploded' after a couple of years at the top, rather than the ones who played for entire life times - imagine! Rock stars 'retiring' not in 'Club 27' like Joplin and Morrison and Jones, but of old age at 65, 70, and older!?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUMq4sB5dsC_d6qnAP__T3cttYqz8oEJ_ (This is a playlist I found my way to with two versions of 'Just LIke Tom Thumb Blues' plus various songs by The Beach Boys, Tom Petty, Linda Rondstadt (also with David Sanborn? I've not heard of him before.) Whoever the guy/girl who programmed this, he/she has excellent taste!
I think I've meandered around the various 'countries' that make up 'Dave World' for long enough!
PS Just had a thought about CCR. My brother Neil went to see John F on tour here in Sydney and I think for him it was like witnessing the 'Second Coming!'
PPS Why don't I print the lyrics to 'Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues' for anybody who has not seen them. I would love to be able to write lyrics/poetry like this,.
"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"
When you're lost in the rain in Juarez
And it's Eastertime too
And your gravity fails
And negativity don't pull you through
Don't put on any airs
When you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue
They got some hungry women there
And they really make a mess outa you.
Now if you see Saint Annie
Please tell her thanks a lot
I cannot move
My fingers are all in a knot
I don't have the strength
To get up and take another shot
And my best friend, my doctor
Won't even say what it is I've got.
Sweet Melinda
The peasants call her the goddess of gloom
She speaks good English
And she invites you up into her room
And you're so kind
And careful not to go to her too soon
And she takes your voice
And leaves you howling at the moon.
Up on Housing Project Hill
It's either fortune or fame
You must pick up one or the other
Though neither of them are to be what they claim
If you're lookin' to get silly
You better go back to from where you came
Because the cops don't need you
And man they expect the same.
Now all the authorities
They just stand around and boast
How they blackmailed the sergeant-at-arms
Into leaving his post
And picking up Angel who
Just arrived here from the coast
Who looked so fine at first
But left looking just like a ghost.
I started out on burgundy
But soon hit the harder stuff
Everybody said they'd stand behind me
When the game got rough
But the joke was on me
There was nobody even there to bluff
I'm going back to New York City
I do believe I've had enough.
And it's Eastertime too
And your gravity fails
And negativity don't pull you through
Don't put on any airs
When you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue
They got some hungry women there
And they really make a mess outa you.
Now if you see Saint Annie
Please tell her thanks a lot
I cannot move
My fingers are all in a knot
I don't have the strength
To get up and take another shot
And my best friend, my doctor
Won't even say what it is I've got.
Sweet Melinda
The peasants call her the goddess of gloom
She speaks good English
And she invites you up into her room
And you're so kind
And careful not to go to her too soon
And she takes your voice
And leaves you howling at the moon.
Up on Housing Project Hill
It's either fortune or fame
You must pick up one or the other
Though neither of them are to be what they claim
If you're lookin' to get silly
You better go back to from where you came
Because the cops don't need you
And man they expect the same.
Now all the authorities
They just stand around and boast
How they blackmailed the sergeant-at-arms
Into leaving his post
And picking up Angel who
Just arrived here from the coast
Who looked so fine at first
But left looking just like a ghost.
I started out on burgundy
But soon hit the harder stuff
Everybody said they'd stand behind me
When the game got rough
But the joke was on me
There was nobody even there to bluff
I'm going back to New York City
I do believe I've had enough.
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Copyright: Special Rider Music
No comments:
Post a Comment