We're paying tribute this week to the life and work of Bob Dylan, who is celebrating 50 years of revolutionary recordings in 2012. His critically acclaimed 35th studio album, Tempest, came out Tuesday, Sept. 11, and he tours Canada extensively in October and November. We asked a variety of musicians about their all-time favourite Dylan songs and will post their responses every day for the rest of the week.
It’s not a well known fact that, when it comes to original songwriters, Baby Eagle is the closest thing Canada has to Bob Dylan right now. The former Constantine has a similar allure – uncompromising and wise, emotive yet tough – commanding the English language around in his songs and it, appreciating the rare challenge, obeys.
Evidence is ample on Baby Eagle's two recent releases, 2010’s Dog Weather and 2012’s Bone Soldiers, and you can see it live and direct when Baby Eagle and the Proud Mothers play punk rock folk songs in Toronto’s Parts and Labour on Sept. 13, Peterborough’s Montreal House on Sept. 19 and Montreal’s Le Divan Orange on Sept. 21.
When asked to name his favourite Dylan song, the Eagle landed on a non-album track called “’Cross the Green Mountain,” which originally appeared on the Gods and Generals soundtrack in 2003.
“So much has been written about Bob Dylan, he's even encouraged ‘anybody who's ever met me, heard me or even seen me, to get in on the action and scribble their own book.’ Maybe he knows that he's slipped past most anything anybody has written about him, even his own autobiography. Maybe saying anything truthful about him is impossible or beside the point or a fool's game.
“Picking any ‘favourite’ Dylan song feels similarly impossible. But I do think it's something that he's still making fantastic, strange and mysterious music. This one's hit me hard since I first heard it on the Tell Tale Signs collection: ''Cross the Green Mountain.' The lyric is historical and of great moral weight, and the musical arrangement, with its push and pull exit/entry between the verses is astounding. It's long ago and constantly reoccurring; it stretches time. His singing is beautiful and perfect. It's a heavy tune.”
Keep checking CBC Music's Bob Dylan page this week for more thoughts on the man and his songs.
Join the conversation. What's your favourite Bob Dylan song? Please tell us what it is and why.
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