The Rolling Stones haven’t covered many songs by Bob Dylan, but they came together in 2011 to record a tribute to their departed (from this earth) piano player, Ian Stewart. Their cover of “Watching The River Flow” is a good one. It appears on the Ben Waters album Boogie 4 Stu: A Tribute To Ian Stewart.
And I like both Keith Richards’ take on “Girl From The North Country,and his version of the Luke Jordan song Bob Dylan also covered, “Cocaine Blues.”
Keith Richards, “Girl From The North Country”:
Keith Richards, “Cocaine Blues”:
The Rolling Stones and friends, “Watching the River Flow”:
On this last track:
KEITH RICHARDS — GUITAR
MICK JAGGER — VOCALS, HARMONICA
CHARLIE WATTS — DRUMS
RONNIE WOOD — GUITAR
BILL WYMAN — BASS
BEN WATERS – PIANO
TOM WATERS — ALTO SAX
WILLY GARNET — SAX
DON WELLOR — SAX
ALEX GARNET — BARITONE SAX
DAVE SWIFT — TAMBOURINE
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in the new issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
Bob Dylan, Mark Shark, George Harrison, Bobby Tsukamoto, John Fogerty and Taj Mahal. Photo via Mark Shark’s taooftuningscom/.
Twenty-Seven years ago, on February 19, 1987, a remarkable meeting of the superstars took place on stage at the Palamino Club in North Hollywood.
Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and John Fogerty joined Taj Mahal and the Graffiti Band, which included slide guitarist Jessie Ed Davis, guitarist Mark Shark, bassist Bobby Tsukamoto, drummer Gary Ray, and keyboardist Jim Ehinger.
Rear L-R, Jesse Ed Davis, Gary Ray, John Fogerty, Bob Dylan, Bobby Tsukamoto, John Trudell, George Harrison; Front: Jim Ehinger, Mark Shark. Photo via Mark Shark’s taooftuningscom/.
George Harrison took charge of the jam session. He sang “Matchbox,” “Honey Don’t” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzy,” all three of which The Beatles did covers of, and Dylan’s “Watching the River Flow. He also shared vocals with Dylan on a version of Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue.”
At one point during “Watching the River Flow” Harrison improvised a verse and worked Bob Dylan’s name into it. Jesse Ed Davis, by the way, played on Dylan’s original recording of the song.
John Fogerty sang Elvis’ hit, “Blue Suede Shoes,” and before launching into his best known song, “Proud Mary,” which Fogerty hadn’t sung in years, he said, “OK we’re gonna do this ’cause Bob Dylan asked me to do this. Holy Mackerel.”
Taj Mahal sang “Johnny D. Goode” and “Willie and the Hand Jive” with Dylan, Harrison and Fogerty leaning into a shared microphone for the background vocals. Amazing!
What is unique about these jams is how relaxed the artists seem. Unlike so many superstar jams, this one doesn’t appear calculated. The artists are having a great time singing songs they want to sing.
And Dylan is seemingly comfortable in his role as rhythm guitarist, playing a Fender Jazzmaster (one of the types of Fender electric guitars which he played in the mid-’60s), occasionally adding very loose harmony vocals.
Dig the video, which is funky. Sound is pretty good.
“Matchbox,” Taj Mahal and George Harrison trade off on the verses, and Harrison sings “Honey Don’t” and “Watching the River Flow”:
Bob Dylan, George Harrison sing “Peggy Sue”, Harrison sings “Dizzy Miss Lizzy”:
John Fogery sings “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Proud Mary”:
Taj Mahal sings “Johnny B. Goode” and Willie and the Hand Jive” and “Hey, Bo Diddley”:
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
