Covering Dylan

Written by: Phil Nee, Host of WRCO’s Those Were the Days

RICHLAND CENTER, Wis (WRCO) – There has been renewed interest and new fans of Bob Dylan have emerged since the release of the movie ‘A Complete Unknown’. It is an excellent film (in my humble opinion). The story covers the artists arrival in New York until he goes electric and sells out (in the opinion of folk purists of the time). The movie is up for 8 Academy Awards at this year’s ceremony. I am pulling for it to win big.

During this Saturday night’s Those Were the Days radio show, I will look at Dylan’s influence through cover songs. Tunes written by Bob Dylan that have hit the Billboard Top Forty in the U.S. will be the topic. I love his writing and many of his songs, but my enjoyment of his music has often been through another artists rendition. Favorites include The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)-Manfred Mann, My Back Pages-Byrds, It Aint Me Babe-Turtles, If Not for You-Olivia Newton John, Forever Yours-Rod Stewart, and Knockin On Heaven’s Door-Guns n’ Roses. When I was just a ‘wee Nee’, my friend Karl was taking guitar lessons. He and I became entertainers at the Ithaca 5th and 6th grade building when we performed together. I would sing and he would play and one of the songs in our repertoire was Blowing in the Wind. At that age, I did not know it was a Bob Dylan song. Luckily no tape exists that archives those early performances in Ithaca. It was my shot at getting my young female classmates to notice me. Unfortunately, girls love guitar players and Karl got the looks. I was always the funny friend. When I sang ‘Go Away Little Girl’ (my Donny Osmond cover) they all gladly went.

I hope you will request a song from the fifties through the eighties on Saturday night between six and midnight. We will be playing trivia, and we will have a fun time hanging out with the solid gold dancers. Our most ‘far out’ request last Saturday night was from a listener in Florida. Thank you so much for listening to WRCO FM 100.9, WRCO.com, and the Civic Media app.

Phil