Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash became friends at the 1964 Newport Folk Fest where they both performed (they had corresponded some time before this and they bumpen into each other in New York in 63 backstage at The Gaslight cafe) , Johnny Cash the seasoned country legend and Bob Dylan the new golden boy. They spent the evening picking in Joan Baez’s hotel room with June Carter Cash, Joan Baez, Jack Elliot and others. As the story goes, Johnny Cash took Dylan aside and handed him his Martin guitar as a gift, a gesture of honor among country musicians.
Their paths crossed on several occasions, and they recorded and performed together many times.
Here are the songs I could find where Cash covers Dylan:
IBM Watson: “I know that your major themes are that time passes and love fades”
Bob Dylan: “That sounds about right.Maybe we should write a song together.”
Bob Dylan the Commercials
Bob Dylan has done a new commercial, this time for IBM.
IBM Watson analyzes Bob Dylan’s lyrics and shows that his major themes are love and time. IBM Watson claims it can help us outthink the limits of creativity. Bob Dylan seems to enjoy himself and it feels a bit tounge-in-cheek. It may be a sell-out, but he sure make cool advertisement!
Jazz spans a period of over 100 years and encompasses a range of music from ragtime to the present day, and has proved to be very difficult to define. Jazz makes heavy use of improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation and the swung note, as well as aspects of European harmony, American popular music, the brass band tradition, and African musical elements such as blue notes and ragtime. The birth of Jazz in the multicultural society of America has led intellectuals from around the world to hail Jazz as “one of America’s original art forms”
Bob Dylan is Jazz at heart, what I mean is that he improvise, he elaborates on his own work. Sometimes his songs are unrecognisable to us. He goes with flow, he goes where the song takes him. He is very “jazzy”, but he does seldom sound like jazz.
I have had quite a few posts with Bob Dylan cover versions and today we collecting 11 more Jazz artists doing their interpretations of his songs.
“We all play folk music.”
– Thelonious Monk (to Dylan)
Jazz spans a period of over 100 years and encompasses a range of music from ragtime to the present day, and has proved to be very difficult to define. Jazz makes heavy use of improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation and the swung note,as well as aspects of European harmony, American popular music,the brass band tradition, and African musical elements such as blue notes and ragtime. The birth of Jazz in the multicultural society of America has led intellectuals from around the world to hail Jazz as “one of America’s original art forms”
Bob Dylan is Jazz at heart, what I mean is that he improvises, he elaborates on his own work. Sometimes his songs are unreckognisable to us. He goes with flow, he goes where the song takes him. He is very “jazzy”, but he does seldom sound like jazz.
I have had quite a few posts with Bob Dylan cover versions and today we are looking at Jazz artists doing their interpretations of his songs.
People sometimes seem surprised that Bob Dylan looks more and more as a country artist, but they forget that country and folk were essentially the same genre once, and rock’n roll began as the rockabilly side of country. Bob Dylan’s connection to country music should not be a surprise to anyone.
“Even at a young age, I identified with Hank Williams. I’d never seen a robin weep but could imagine it and it made me sad. When he sang ‘the news is out, all over town’ I knew what that was, even though I didn’t know. When he died it was like a great tree had fallen. Hearing about Hank’s death caught me squarely at the shoulder. The silence of outer space never seemed so loud.” – Bob Dylan
I have picked my favourite country versions of his songs, some I found only audio of. Some of the songs are by other artists and some are collaborations between Bob Dylan and other artists.
“I keep a close watch on this heart of mine . . . I must have recited those lines to myself a million times. Johnny’s voice was so big it made the world grow small.” – Bob Dylan
10. Kris Kristofferson – Quinn the eskimo, from the recently released Chimes Of Freedom in honor of 50 years of Amnesty International, wonderful and rough version:
9. Every grain of sand – Emmylou Harris, from her album Wrecking Ball (1995) my favourite Emmylou album.
Emmylou Harris live May 24 2016:
8. It Ain’t Me, Babe – Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, released on Orange Blossom Special in 1965. We have chosen a version from an Australian TV-show in 1973: