Filed under: sing like no one is listening | Tags: Bob Dylan, The Band, The Basement Tapes, You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
One of the most treasured chapters in the legend of Bob Dylan tells the story surrounding his mysterious motorcycle accident in the summer of 1966 and his subsequent self-exile to his home in Woodstock, New York. For the better part of 1967, Dylan and his neighbors The Hawks (his touring band soon to become the much-celebrated stand-alone group The Band) wrote and casually recorded a great gaggle of songs in Dylan’s basement and in Big Pink, the home The Band was renting. Many of these songs were written and recorded with the idea that they would be used as demos to market the songs to other artists looking for material to perform. Some things are hard to give away completely, though, and in 1975 those songs were released by Dylan’s label as The Basement Tapes. An expanded version of these sessions was released last year as The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Complete Basement Tapes.
Yet even before 1975, Dylan knew there were a few of those tunes he wanted to put out himself. Perhaps it was thanks to the success of The Byrds’ single of “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” in 1968, or maybe just that Dylan want to right a lyrical wrong (a minor one made by Roger McGuinn on The Byrds’ version), but in 1971 Dylan made an official recording of “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” for release on his upcoming Greatest Hits Vol. II.
Since it never really appeared on any official albums (I don’t consider The Basement Tapes an official album; it’s awesome, and was formally released, but it’s just a bunch of buddies having a damn good time and I kind of like to think of it as special and removed from the realm of official releases, existing in some innocent ether of joviality and wine jugs) “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” is kind of this acknowledged bastard child whose origin everyone knows, but who seems to flit around from relative to relative. It’s a well-traveled song, covered by a whole lot of people, its appeal resting in its simplicity. The thing about covers of “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” compared to other covers of other songs by other artists is that I’ve never heard anyone do anything beyond a straight-up performance of it. As far as I know there exist no spaced-out-Flaming-Lips-style reinventions of the thing, and I absolutely love that. Even Dylan plays it straight most of the time, which makes it kind of a gem, since he reworks songs during concerts these days so they’re unrecognizable sometimes unless you catch the lyrics.
“You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” just seems so easy, a mix of highbrow emotion and laid-back lyrical expression, a funny sweet song with a simple arrangement so primary and appealing nobody’s yet dared to screw with it. I wish I could tell you which version to listen to as the penultimate, but an apex cover is hard to pin down without a nadir to regard alongside as contrast. So enjoy a few.
There’s also a great post on the Every Bob Dylan Song Blog about “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” that’s worth a read as well:
http://everybobdylansong.blogspot.com/2009/04/bob-dylan-song-97-you-aint-goin-nowhere.html
Filed under: sing like no one is listening | Tags: Atlantic City, Bruce Springsteen, Jericho, Levon Helm, Nebraska, The Band
Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska remains to this day one of the Boss’s best. Though the songs on Nebraska were meant for the full E Street Band treatment, and were all in fact recorded with the band, Springsteen and the producers decided that nothing could compete with the sparse, haunting demos that he had recorded at home using a four-track cassette recorder. Aside from the noise reduction, the demos were released as is, giving us the Nebraska we know and love today.
“Atlantic City” is probably the most well-known song from the album, with a little more energy than the other tracks, more urgency to its rhythm, a sense of bleak hope in contrast to the rest of the songs, which seem resigned to a grey world of disappointment. Its New Jersey connection didn’t hurt, either, making it almost an anthem for the state by its most popular son. At least thirty-seven covers have been done of “Atlantic City,” and all are decent in their own way, but the only version that can stand on its own next to Bruce’s original was done by The Band on their 1993 release, Jericho.
Jericho was The Band’s first album without primary songwriter and guitarist Robbie Robertson, arriving a full seventeen years after the original lineup played The Last Waltz. Without Robertson’s originals, The Band relied on plenty of covers for the album, including “Atlantic City.”
Levon Helm, the drumming legend and only American member of the original Band, takes lead vocals on the song. It’s a faithful cover, but with added mandolin, colorful organ, keyboard, and accordion play, and harmonized vocals for the majority of the song which give it a feel more of celebration than desperation, though this change in tone is not unwelcome or inappropriate. If you’re a fan of the original and have never heard this version, enjoy.
Songs For Your Day 