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Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, Bob Dylan and blues, Bob Dylan at 80, Broke Down Engine Blues, Bukka White, Charlie Patton, Farm Aid, Freddy King, jimmy reed, lightning hopkins, Mark Knopfler, Mavis Staples, Mike Bloomfield, Mississippi John Hurt, muddy waters, Sleepy John Estees, Stefan Grossman
Apart from the obvious influence of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan was also steeped in the range of Blues music.
There are many examples either of direct influence or a title may link it to a blues song,for example:
“When I got troubles.” was recorded in 1959, and appeared on “No Direction Home” – Bootleg 7.
The song’s title is related to a Lightning Hopkins classic:
And one of my favourites, Blind Willie McTell where the obvious love of the blues is clearly seen:
And who did he choose as lead guitarist, when in 1965, he stormed into a new electric phase -Mike Bloomfield! He also used other members of Paul Butterfield Blues Band at the Newport Folk Festival.
On his Freewheelin album he sang Corina Corina,which is an adaptation of a 1928 country blues song.
and for an early folk/blues – I was young when I left home :
and on bootleg 9 comes this blues influenced track -Ballad for a friend,recorded in 1962,when Dylan was just 21 and originally titled Reminiscence Blues:
And how about this for a 12 bar blues:
From Bringing it all back home
She Belongs to me:
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat from the album Blonde on Blonde has close affiliations with the blues:
The song melodically and lyrically resembles Lightnin’ Hopkins’s “Automobile Blues”,with Dylan’s opening line of “Well, I see you got your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat,” echoing Hopkins’s “I saw you riding ’round in your brand new automobile,” and the repeated line of “…brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat,” melodically descending in the same manner of the Hopkins refrain “…in your brand new fast car”. The Dylan reference to “the garage door” in the final verse of “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” may also be an allusion to the automobile of Hopkins’s song.
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat by Dylan:
Blues guitarist Mike Bloomfield supports Bob on another blues,It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry, found on Highway 61 Revisited
Another blues, Meet me in the morning, from Blood on the Tracks
And guess which bluesman made a cover? The great Freddy King!
Gotta Serve Somebody -more of a gospel take
Try this cover by Mavis Staples and Johnny Lang:
and Bob’s live version:
And in 1980 Bob released a blues /rock number called The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar:
Try this live version at Farm Aid, of another blues/rock “Seeing the Real You at Last”
With Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Bob in his rocking best.
“I sailed through the storm, strapped to the mast, I’m just thankful and grateful to be seeing the real you at last.”
Everything Is Broken is a blues in the style of Slim Harpo
Broken lines, broken strings,
Broken threads, broken springs,
Broken idols, broken heads,
People sleeping in broken beds
Ain’t no use jiving
Ain’t no use joking
Everything is broken
Broken bottles, broken plates,
Broken switches, broken gates,
Broken dishes, broken parts,
Streets are filled with broken hearts
Broken words never meant to be spoken,
Everything is broken
Seem like every time you stop and turn around
Something else just hit the ground
Broken cutters, broken saws,
Broken buckles, broken laws,
Broken bodies, broken bones,
Broken voices on broken phones
Take a deep breath, feel like you’re chokin’,
Everything is broken
Every time you leave and go off someplace
Things fall to pieces in my face
Broken hands on broken ploughs,
Broken treaties, broken vows,
Broken pipes, broken tools,
People bending broken rules
Hound dog howling, bull frog croaking, Everything is broken
Try this cover from the bluesman R.L.Burnside:
Enjoy the wah wah harp in the middle.
Paying homage to the great Charlie Patton, Bob reminds us on how the floods of the Mississippi often destryed people’s lives (note Charlie Patton’s High water everywhere).
High Water Everywhere (Charlie Patton)
Listen to that percussive beat…..
Well, backwater done rose all around Sumner now,
drove me down the line
Backwater done rose at Sumner,
drove poor Charley down the line
Lord, I’ll tell the world the water,
done crept through this town
Lord, the whole round country,
Lord, river has overflowed
Lord, the whole round country,
man, is overflowed
You know I can’t stay here,
I’ll go where it’s high, boy
I would goto the hilly country,
but, they got me barred
Now, look-a here now at Leland
river was risin’ high
Look-a here boys around Leland tell me,
river was raisin’ high
Boy, it’s risin’ over there, yeah
I’m gonna move to Greenville
fore I leave, goodbye
Look-a here the water now, Lordy,
Levee broke, rose most everywhere
The water at Greenville and Leland,
Lord, it done rose everywhere
Boy, you can’t never stay here
I would go down to Rosedale
but, they tell me there’s water there
Now, the water now, mama,
done took Charley’s town
Well, they tell me the water,
done took Charley’s town
Boy, I’m goin’ to Vicksburg
Well, I’m goin’ to Vicksburg,
for that high of mine
I am goin’ up that water,
where lands don’t never flow
Well, I’m goin’ over the hill where,
water, oh don’t ever flow
Boy, hit Sharkey County and everything was down in Stovall
But, that whole county was leavin’,
over that Tallahatchie shore Boy,
went to Tallahatchie and got it over there
Lord, the water done rushed all over,
down old Jackson road
Lord, the water done raised,
over the Jackson road
Boy, it starched my clothes
I’m goin’ back to the hilly country,
won’t be worried no more.
And Bob’s take on the flooding:
From the Love and Theft album
Another blues -Can’t wait from the album Time out of Mind
World Gone Wrong album gives a good spread of blues covers, for example Stack O’Lee (Mississippi John Hurt) Delia (Rev Gary Davis) and Broke Down Engine from the great 12 string blues artist Blind Willie McTell:
Stack O’Lee Blues from Mississippi John Hurt
and Delia or All my friends are gone:
and Bob’s version:
Broke Down Engine Blues – Blind Willie McTell (nice 12 string guitar playing)
Rollin and Tumblin , on Modern Times, which this time, is a direct copy of a blues with a long history.
Lets hear Muddy Water’s version before Bob:
And a real down home blues -Someday Baby, from the same album, but lets here Sleepy John Estes version, first of all:
and Bob’s gravelly version, really rocking:
From his early days, when blues and other ‘roots’ music had a particular influence on Bob,he covered ‘Fixin to Die’
Lets hear Bukka White’s recording,first
And Bob with Dave Van Ronk :
From the same album -See that my grave is kept clean…
and Bob’s authentic version:
Step it up and go is a Blind Boy Fuller number which Bob covers on Good as I been to you:
Bob pays homage to other Blues great such as Jimmy Reed:
From Rough and Rowdy Ways
Another bluesy song from the same album:
Well,as you can see Bob has certainly taken from and given to the blues tradition and on the way has paid homage to a number of traditional blues artists. There are other songs either direct covers or influenced by blues musical structures or lyrics, but I hope you have enjoyed this starter.
One of my favourite tracks paying homage to a great 12 string player is Blind Willie McTell,which I don’t mind repeating.
I like this other version with Mark Knopfler on guitar and Bob on piano/harmonica
See other posts celebrating Bob Dylan at 80: