It is strange how well Dylan’s songs sound in these interpretations by African/American women. They are so different from the originals, yet they seem to convey the songs meaning in an even more direct way than Bob Dylan’s own versions. They might not be better, but they’re excitingly done and very good in a different kind of way.
1. Nina Simone – The Ballad of Hollis Brown
2. Odetta Holmes – Tomorrow is a long time:
For me, Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” is Motown’s greatest record. It may be played to death but I still like it, like it? I love it! It’s pulsating hypnotic rhythm pattern and the melodic singing hovering above it, it grooves and it’s funky as well.
Marvin Gaye (audio only):
It’s a love song, where one part pleads to the other part after a break up, but it feels deeper than ordinary pop ditty. It’s about lies, loss, gossip, torment, fear and doubt. Dark stuff hidden in a soul tune.
Marvin Gaye (1968 live version):
The sinister rhythm gives us a taste of dark things ahead, it’s a painful story underscored with a cinematic theme. Marvin is in pain, and he tells us, over and over again. Lovely. Terrible. Terribly lovely.
Continue reading The Best Song: I Heard It Through The Grapevine – Marvin Gaye (and others)