"Battle of the Bands" - a blog hop that's all about the music. Participants this month brought some fine stuff forward. "We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun..." Yeah! I hope you had the chance to visit each of the sites that took part in this one-of-a-kind blog hop! No? Not to worry - we'll do it again on the 15th of March - be there or be square. Thank you to our blog hop hosts!
Thank you to all "Battle of the Band" blog hop participants, and the visitors who love this stuff!!
My song choice was "All Along the Watchtower, " written and originally recorded by Bob Dylan. Later recorded by Jimi Hendrix, which is still considered the most popular version of this song.
However ~
Mr. Bryan Ferry and the challenger, Mr. Taj Mahal have excited a would be fan base in this battle. Well done gentlemen, and thank you for the excellent versions!
Commentary ~
You want to know how the winner was chosen? Feel free to step back to the "Battle post." Those people have some serious opinions!!
For me, my original choice stayed the same as the day I first heard it. Something so different and quirky, it turned me around. I will always be the Hendrix fan, but this was a fun execution. I voted Taj Mahal.
The WINNER ~ Who won this quirky match up? Don't keep 'em waiting any longer!!
Bryan Ferry @ 11 votes
Taj Mahal @ 8 votes
Thank you, again, for joining in. See you on March 15th for the next "Battle of the Bands."
**BOTB ~ where you listen to different recordings of the same song, and vote for the song version you like. Feel free to leave us a comment, along with your vote.** There are two "Battles" per month, on the 1st and 15th. The results come six days later, (on the 7th and 21st). That's when I return, add all of the votes, including mine, and announce the winner. Feel free to return and see if your choice won! The blogging event first introduced by our friends:
If you would like to listen, and vote in other battles, please see the participant list in the right margin. If you would like to join this blog-hop contact Stephen T. McCarthy; leave him a message, and your blog address. We would love to have you participate.
Okay - here's the post I originally planned to use, but hadn't polished it up yet. I was going for a personal connection to create more interest.
Parents working at the coliseum. Babysitter unavailable; big brother stuck with taking me to Jimi Hendrix concert. On the floor at the sixth row, I stood there, jaw dropped, watching this man play guitar with his teeth. Looked to brother to help me understand; he's standing there in a time zone or something.
I decided to make a battle on Jimi Hendrix. I certainly had a nice personal story to connect here. I listened to covers, interviews, and wiki-stuff. Guess what? Bob Dylan wrote and composed the original song I'd chosen. Not Hendrix? Not even! So my personal story went by the way. What did I know about Dylan? Squat. ~
The non-personal connection post:
If you please,... a brief background on Bob Dylan's, "All Along The Watchtower."
July, 1966, singer/song writer Bob Dylan recuperates in his Woodstock home. A motorcycle accident provides 18 months for Dylan to complete lyrics and music for his album, "John Wesley Harding." Among those tunes, "All Along The Watchtower" emerges, and he records it in November 1967.
Dylan's song is described as, "... a dark, sparse work that stands alone...". It's like nothing Dylan has ever written.
Later, Michael Goldstein, who worked for Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman, took tapes of Dylan's songs to London for the singer, songwriter, guitarist, Jimi Hendrix to hear, who recorded and released a cover of "All Along the Watchtower," in September 1968. Hendrix's version is what most people think to be the original. ( I did.) Wrong!
Here's some irony. Hendrix died in 1970, and Dylan said: "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this, and ever since he died I've been doing it that way... strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way." The end.
Here's the Battle:: ~ Bryan Ferry versus Taj Mahal ~
# 1 - Bryan Ferry has probably made a cover of every song you can think of... but he's also quite talented with his original lyrics and songs. Bryan Ferry, CBE (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. When his sales as a solo artist, and as a member of Roxy Music are combined, Ferry has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
#2 - Taj Mahal, stage name for Henry Saint Clair Fredericks (born May 17, 1942), is an American Grammy Award-winning blues musician. He often incorporates elements of world music into his works. A self-taught singer-songwriter and film composer who plays the guitar, piano, banjo and harmonica (among many other instruments). Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his almost 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa and the South Pacific.
Dylan's Lyrics:
"There must be some way out of here" said the joker to the thief
"There's too much confusion," I can't get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.
"No reason to get excited", the thief he kindly spoke
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late".
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.
