I’ve always loved this song, I think I heard Leon Russell’s version first and then Bob’s.
This is stunning, and I’m not a Patti Smith fan, don’t dislike her but was never a huge fan.
But wow, her performance, her stuff-ups, the occasion, and the song. Just gobsmacked. Made me cry for all those reasons.
(still can’t remember how to do a right pointing arrow on a Mac…)
And here’s Leon’s version in case you’ve never heard it
Wow! Whose stroke of genius was it to have her? Completely appropriate in complete unexpectedness. Out Dylan’s no show and some. Shame about the fluffs tho’
It’s a hard song to cover, as it can come over overly reverential, as Joan Baez, inevitably, Tom Russell & Lucinda Williams, Edie Brickell and others have discovered. Which is why, after some deliberation, Jason Mraz, Janet Planet and……..
Bryan Ferry get my top 3
Surprised she didn’t use an autocue.
Dylan is a notoriously nervous performer. Always takes a few songs for the butterflies to settle. He is not touring at the moment so maybe just wanted to avoid the pressure.
What a bunch of weirdoes in the audience. It’s not like Patti to get phased by stuffed shirts and artifice.
I hear from a reliable source that Dylan had a studio booked to record a new album, though odd as he usually spends Thanksgiving and Christmas with family and records in January.
I saw her supporting Bob on an Aussie tour around a decade ago and it was something of a debacle. All the mums and dads had turned up to see Bob in their Sunday best (seriously, some of the women were wearing evening dresses, like they were at the opera, or something) and sat quietly in their seats.
Meanwhile the kids who had come to see Patti rushed to the front of the stage, blocking the view of those behind and causing some to stand on their seats to see over the scrum.
This was OK during Patti’s set, but the interlopers stayed there when Bob came on and the mums and dads became mightily upset. Security were unable to restore order and very many older couples walked out in disgust.
Yes, I remember that . I saw them 3 nights in a row – Patti’s schtick got a bit wearing by the third show in Wollongong. However, she was in fine voice and Bob’s band were great -Time Out Of Mind era I think.
Would it have been 2007? The thing I remember most about that tour is how bloated and unhealthy Bob looked. He was wearing a light coloured suit and by the end he had sweated right through it and the back of the jacket was soaked.
He’s slimmed off a lot now.
I love that even Patti Smithwould be so nervous and vulnerable to mistakes, and weirdly they almost add to the performance. I hope she doesn’t feel too bad about it – I think that’s a magnificent performance and absolutely does justice to Dylan (which was probably the thing she was most nervous about getting right).
She certainly turned it round brilliantly. Front page news here today and the headline was “Mistake transformed into a great success”. There is a lot of love for Patti here and her popularity has actually increased because of this. Certainly in our family anyway.
That was beautiful, I was moved, I had a tears in my eyes. I do like Patti and she had the dignity appropriate for such an occasion. Majestic!
Gosh, that is a very powerful performance. Lovely understated accompaniment too. I think I’m in Patti-loving territory here, and I have to say, to any casual reader or even Afterword poster who isn’t really a fan, if you want to get closer to understanding the woman and her work, please, please take the time to read her memoir “Just Kids”; it’s revealing, personal, honest, wonderfully written and utterly beguiling.
I totally adore Patti and I’ve seen her live three or four times – certainly don’t think of her as a nervous performer at all.
What a peculiar environment though, white ties and ballgowns, so enormously at odds with the song’s subject matter.
Bloody good on her. All the more reason to love her as far as I’m concerned.
“Thank you very much. And now, Piss Factory. Sing along if you know the words”.
….and for the encore, a blistering thrash through “Rock’n’Roll Nigger”.
“Alfred Nobel died for somebody’s sins but not mine….”