Month: May 2021

Music: Covers of Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes songs

Bob Dylan is 80 today. That’s hard to believe. Rolling Stone and Variety each compiled a list of the 80 best Dylan covers. I’m going to focus on the Basement Tapes songs from 1967. Dylan did a demo of 14 songs that were covered by other artists. The most famous is Manfred Mann’s version of “Mighty Quinn”. Seven of Dylan’s recordings were on the first major bootleg, Great White Wonder.

The Band released three Basement tapes songs on their first album, Music from Big Pink. Two had been co-written with Band members.

an album of Dylan covers including seven Basement Tapes songs:

Lo and Behold – Coulson, Dean, McGuinness, Flint, McGuiness Flint (1972)

Film: 1966 – Lord Love a Duck, The Loved One, Morgan!

There sure were some unusual movies released in 1966. The rebellious nature of many people during that time was reflected in movies, books and music.

Lord Love a Duck, The Loved One, and Morgan! were all released in 1966. They’re all comedies in black and white and the first two have Roddy McDowall in the cast.

I haven’t seen Morgan in years but I watched the other two for the first time last week.

Lord Love a Duck stars Roddy McDowall (age 36 at the time playing a high school student) and Tuesday Weld. Weld is underappreciated and also was great in Pretty Poison and Who’ll Stop the Rain. She’s much more than the teenage girl in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis on TV. McDowall and Weld play students who do increasingly outrageous stunts which ultimately result in tragedy. The film mocks the film industry as well as teenagers and rich society. It’s still funny today.

The Loved One is hit and miss but great when it hits. It’s primarily a satire of the funeral industry and the humor is frequently tasteless. (but still hilarious). The lead is Robert Morse, miscast as an Englishman. Anjanette Comer does an excellent job of portraying naivete and innocence. Rod Steiger is outstanding as the chief embalmer. He usually played serious roles but does well with broad comedy here. Like Lord Love a Duck, the plot becomes increasingly outrageous and ends in a rocket flight.

I haven’t seen Morgan! in many years but remember David Warner’s charming but bizarre performance trying to keep his wife played by Vanessa Redgrave. It fits in with this group of films.

All of these films are available on Blu-ray disc.

Over half of Republicans believe Trump is President

How can you negotiate with people who have no concept of reality?

Lucinda Williams on Austin City Limits in 1998

This is the entire performance. It was released on DVD but appears to be out of print based on the Amazon and eBay prices. Williams released Car Wheels on a Gravel Road in 1998. I think it’s her best album and one of the best by anyone ever. The songs from the album are the main focus of the concert. Williams is backed by a terrific band and the great support from harmonies provided by Jim Lauderdale. I can’t recommend this highly enough.

Lucinda Williams – Austin City Limits 1998 – Full Performance.

Lucinda Williams (vocals, guitar), Kenny Vaughan (guitar, backing vocals), John Jackson (guitar), Richard “Hombre” Price (bass), Randy Leago (Hammond B3, Accordion), Fran Breen (drums), and Jim Lauderdale (acoustic guitar, backing vocals).

  1. Pineola (0:19)
  2. Metal Firecracker (5:00)
  3. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (8:38)
  4. Right in Time (13:19)
  5. Drunken Angel (17:58)
  6. Greenville (21:21)
  7. Still I Long for Your Kiss (25:43)
  8. Lake Charles (30:13)
  9. Changed the Locks (35:42)
  10. Disgusted (39:31)
  11. Jackson (42:45)
  12. Sweet Old World (49:02)
  13. Passionate Kisses (54:12)
  14. Something About What Happens When We Talk (56:54)
  15. Joy (1:00:54)
  16. Can’t Let Go (1:09:33)

Covers: Viva Las Vegas

I thought about posting about “Viva Las Vegas” because of the version used in the new film Army of the Dead. The original version is by Elvis Presley. I was shocked to read that he never performed it live.

It was done as “Viva Viagra” in a commercial and “Viva Rock Vegas” in a Flintstones movie.

I watched A.K.A. Doc Pomus about the author of the lyrics – he hadn’t been to Las Vegas!

Covers recorded by The Band

I got a lot of information on the original versions from the excellent site Second Hand Songs.

Album Song Track Original artist
Big Pink Long Black Veil Lefty Frizzell
Rock of Ages Don’t Do It Side 1, track 1 Marvin Gaye
Rock of Ages Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes Side 4, Track 3 Chuck Willis
Moondog Matinee Ain’t Got No Home Side 1, track 1 Clarence “Frogman” Henry
Moondog Matinee Holy Cow Side 1, track 2 Lee Dorsey
Moondog Matinee Share Your Love Side 1, track 3 Bobby Bland
Moondog Matinee Mystery Train Side 1, track 4 Junior Parker
Moondog Matinee Third Man Theme Side 1, track 5 Anton Karas
Moondog Matinee Promised Land Side 2, track 1 Chuck Berry
Moondog Matinee The Great Pretender Side 2, track 2 The Platters
Moondog Matinee I’m Ready Side 2, track 3 Fats Domino
Moondog Matinee Saved Side 2, track 4 LaVern Baker
Moondog Matinee A Change is Gonna Come Side 2, track 5 Sam Cooke
Islands Ain’t That a Lot of Love Sam & Dave
Islands Georgia on My Mind Hoagy Carmichael
The Basement Tapes Ain’t No More Cane Side 3, track 3 Ernest Williams, James “Iron Head” Baker and Convict Group
Festival Express film Slippin’ and Slidin’ Little Richard
The Last Waltz Who Do You Love? Bo Diddley
The Last Waltz Further on Up the Road Bobby Bland
The Last Waltz Down South in New Orleans Johnny and Jack
The Last Waltz Tura Lura Lural Chauncey Olcott
The Last Waltz Baby Let Me Follow You Down Rev. Gary Davis

You should be able to find most of the original versions on YouTube

• Mystery Train has additional music and lyrics by Robertson. The most famous cover of Mystery Train is by Elvis Presley, recorded for Sun Records in Memphis which also released the original version.
• Moondog Matinee was released in late 1973 but the Band didn’t play any of it when I saw them In January 1974 with Bob Dylan. They did play Long Black Veil. They played Share Your Love when I saw them in August 1973.
• The film The Third Man (1949) is shown on TCM sometime and is a great movie. The original version of the theme was performed on a zither.
• Holy Cow was originally written and produced by Allen Toussaint who arranged the horns on Life Is a Carnival and the Rock of Ages album.
• I only included songs from The Last Waltz if the artist performing them was not the original artist
• Big Pink included songs recorded with Bob Dylan as part of the Basement Tapes but the original versions were not released until way after Big Pink. The songs are Tears of Rage, This Wheel’s on Fire, and I Shall Be Released. The first two were co-written by Dylan and Band members.
• Dylan wrote Long Distance Operator which is on The Basement Tapes. I don’t think he ever released a version of it.
• The expanded version of Rock of Ages included a cover of Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever by the Four Tops.
• Georgia on My Mind is best known by the Ray Charles version.

Music: Coffee Creek

Do you like Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, early Wilco and the Bottle Rockets? If country with a rock edge is for you, check out the recordings of Coffee Creek. Coffee Creek consisted of Uncle Tupelo plus Brian Henneman (an Uncle Tupelo roadie who formed the Bottle Rockets). They performed covers of old country songs. It’s a shame this stuff was never released officially.

Here are two examples. If you like them, check out the full shows below them.