The most ridiculous compilation yet

[dreamshark]

Every now and then I run across an old song that sounds strangely familiar, and then it hits me...oh, THAT'S where Dylan cribbed that melody from! Sometimes it's the whole shebang - the tune, the subject matter, and some of the words (The Patriot Game ->With God On Our Side).. Other times, he just started riffing on the first line and went off in a completely different direction (Lord Randall -> A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall). Usually the source material is trad, so there's no copyright issues. However, I've always thought "4th Time Around" sounded suspiciously like a pastiche of the Beatle's "Norwegian Wood."

So, since I was fiddling around with my iTunes collection, I thought I'd create a playlist that alternated between Dylan songs and the songs he stole from. I KNOW there are more than the 3 I just listed. Can anybody think of any other pairs?

Comments

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

I finally remembered the pair that inspired this whole stupid idea. One of the songs on Beth's drinking compilation is a song I had never heard before: "The Parting Glass." Except I sort of HAD heard it before, e.g., "Restless Farewell," which is damn near the same song.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Nottamun Town / Masters of War

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I have a recording of Nottamun Town, but not Masters of War. That's from one of his earlier albums, is it not?

By golly, you're right!

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Having only a hazy memory of "Masters of War" I went out to the iTunes store and played the 30-second clip. It's absolutely the tune of Nottamun Town, although I don't think there's any relationship in the subject matter.

As you may have deduced, I'm a big Dylan fan, but never liked his early albums well enough to buy them. Nice thing about iTunes, though, is that you can buy just a single song if that's all you want from the album. I think I'll do that. Thanks for the tip!

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Dylan does filk!

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Good name for the playlist. :-)