The Sound Symposium: It Ain't Me Babe (1969)

 |   |  1 min read

The Sound Symposium: It Ain't Me Babe (1969)

In his liner essay to the new Bob Dylan Bootleg Series collection Another Self Portrait, the writer Greil Marcus makes a disparaging comment about the string arrangement on the original version of Copper Kettle which appeared on Dylan's Self Portrait collection in 1970.

He jibes that while the song stood out on that album, the strings sounded like The  Longines Symphonette Society Does Bob Dylan.

We don't need to have heard them, we get what he means.

Dylan however has made some interesting comments about arrangements and also noted, rather tartly, in his book Chronicles that while most people turned attention on his lyrics, songwriters knew he wrote tunes as well.

True, and his songs have been subjected to many instrumental treatments . . . possibly by the Longines Symphonette Society who specialised in easy listening.

I don't have access to whatever they might have done to Dylan, but this particular track comes from an ensemble who, prior to doing the album Bob Dylan Interpreted from which this is lifted, had done the albums Paul Simon Interpreted and Contemporary Composers Interpreted (Lennon-McCartney featuring, of course).

The arrangments are by Paul Harris and the liner notes to this Dylan one say, "The Sound Symposium is fast becoming America's foremost interpreter of contemporary music. This album will tell you why".

You be the judge, but if nothing else it does prove Dylan's point. He also wrote tunes. 

For more oddities, one-offs or songs with an interesting backstory use the RSS feed for daily updates, and check the massive back-catalogue at From the Vaults.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   From the Vaults articles index

Public Image Limited; Death Disco (1979)

Public Image Limited; Death Disco (1979)

Described by Peter Shapiro in Turn the Beat Around; The Secret History of Disco as "perhaps the most uncompromising record ever to make the Top 20 chart [in Britain]" this extraordinary... > Read more

Jimmy Patton: Okies in the Pokey (1959)

Jimmy Patton: Okies in the Pokey (1959)

Jimmy Patton (1931-89) was never really a rockabilly singer although this, his biggest hit, was certainly a rave-up in that style. But Patton's heart had always been in hillbilly country, right up... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

DAVID MARKS OF THE NEW ZEALAND SKEPTICS (1998): Spoon bending made easy

DAVID MARKS OF THE NEW ZEALAND SKEPTICS (1998): Spoon bending made easy

David Marks paces furiously around the small room, giving a good impersonation of a caged animal. It's disconcerting.His arms flail as he says that if we doubted his ability he'd accuse us of being... > Read more

Nigel Gavin: A Job with the Circus (DVD by Costa Botes)

Nigel Gavin: A Job with the Circus (DVD by Costa Botes)

When I wrote the liner notes for Nigel Gavin's excellent Visitation album from late 06 I described him as "a musician without portfolio, a guitarist/composer whose work comfortably commands... > Read more