I like covers, don't get me wrong. Some of my best friends are covers. If it's a song I love, I'm eager to hear it done all kinds of ways by all kinds of people.
This morning, while out walking, my iPod offered up a favorite Dylan cover -- Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower." I'm grooving along, as always, until we get to that one line where Jimi improvises because he doesn't know the words. He does a phonetic approximation of "none of them along the line know what any of it is worth." Only for Jimi, it comes out something like "none will ever on their mind, nobody of it is worth." This always cracks me up, because it makes no sense, obviously. It reminds me of my months as a foreign exchange student in South America back in the 60's. There were Friday talent shows at the school I attended, where lip-synching to American records was considered a "talent." Often, the kids didn't know the English words, but they did their best to move their lips according to the sounds. It was hilarious and touching. Just like Jimi.
In the Isle of Wight live performance video, Jimi doesn't even take a stab at the line, but in this studio version, he at least puts some syllables together.
Here's another Dylan cover I went crazy for recently: Wilco and Fleet Foxes doing "I Shall Be Released." Who better to cover this anthemic song? And with Tweedy going into his falsetto? You gotta love it.
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