Latest news with #BobDylan
News24
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News24
Weekender playlist: From Hendrix to Nirvana, Whitney to Winehouse... some iconic song covers
In this edition of The Weekender's playlist, Joel Ontong has you covered. He takes a look at some of the best and most iconic covers of all time. When Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor first heard country legend Johnny Cash cover his song, Hurt, he said it was like 'someone kissing your girlfriend'. 'I knew where I was when I wrote it. I know what I was thinking about. I know how I felt,' Reznor told The Sun in 2008. 'It felt invasive.' But, after watching Cash's music video, Reznor was floored: 'It really, really made sense, and I thought, what a powerful piece of art.' 'I never got to meet Johnny, but I'm happy I contributed the way I did. It felt like a warm hug. I have goosebumps right now thinking about it.' Cash's version of Hurt is hailed as one of the best covers of all time. What made it great was that he sang as if he meant every word, like it was coming straight from his heart. This raises the question: What makes a great cover? It's not better or more theatrical vocals or upscaled production, but rather the ability to make a song one's own and find ways to reinterpret, not just redo. News24's Weekender playlist looks at some great or notable covers. Another iconic cover is Jimi Hendrix's take on Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower. Hendrix's recording is the stuff of guitar legend. Midway through the song, he delivers arguably the greatest guitar solo put to wax. The song showcases what happens when cutting-edge guitar technology falls into the hands of a visionary. Plenty of Hendrix's peers had access to wah-wah pedals, reverb, and delay effects, but none of them could play like him. If Hendrix hadn't covered All Along the Watchtower, and Dylan hadn't written it, rock music wouldn't be the same. Dylan was also so impressed by Hendrix's version that he even changed the way he played the song live. READ | Weekender playlist: From Oklou, Internet Girl and Weed420... to prog rock by Pope Francis Sometimes, a bit of theatricality can help make an iconic cover – case in point, I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston, written by Dolly Parton. Parton's original is lovely, but Houston's version is monumental. Though the 1992 version is backed by a dated adult contemporary instrumental, Houston gives a vocal performance for the books. In the song's coda, Houston lets it rip, but not at the expense of emotional rawness. A similar case is Aretha Franklin's cover of Respect, originally by Otis Redding. In an era where everyone was covering each other's songs without really adding much, Franklin's performance defined the Southern Soul sound of the 1960s. Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson's cover of The Zutons' Valerie is, to many, the definitive version of the song. The Zutons might not have known it at the time, but Valerie was made for Winehouse. A great cover can also simply highlight great songwriting, especially when it's overlooked. When Nirvana decided to add David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World to their MTV Unplugged setlist, they probably didn't put that much thought into it. Their raw and rugged rendition is simple but brilliantly highlights Bowie's compelling songwriting, much better than the original ever did. Mainstream jazz music has also been noted for artists frequently doing covers, and there are many great ones by the likes of Miles Davis, Bill Evans and Abdullah Ibrahim. For our playlist, we included John Coltrane's take on Sound of Music's My Favourite Things. It's a significant departure from the original, but it is one of the best cool jazz recordings ever. We also included two songs you might not have known were covers: I'm a Believer by Smash Mouth (used in Shrek) and Red Red Wine by UB40. Both songs were written by Neil Diamond and appear on his debut album.
Hans India
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hans India
New OTT Releases on May 30, 2025: Movies and Shows to Watch
On Friday, May 30, 2025, many new shows and movies are ready to stream on popular streaming sites like JioHotstar, Netflix, SonyLIV, Apple TV+, and ZEE5. There are crime stories, music movies, horror, and cartoons for everyone. Netflix A Widow's Game: A true crime story about a woman who plans to kill her husband. Lost in Starlight: A cartoon about a girl who wants to be an astronaut and a musician, fixing old audio devices. JioHotstar A Complete Unknown: A music movie about young Bob Dylan and how he changed music in the 1960s. SonyLIV Kankhajura: A crime story about Ashu, who tries to meet his brother after prison, but his past causes trouble. Apple TV+ Bono: Stories of Surrender: A documentary about Bono, the lead singer of U2, showing his life and music. ZEE5 Andhar Maya: A horror drama about a family facing strange events in their old home. If you like mystery, music, or scary stories, these new shows and movies are for you.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Obsessing over Bob Dylan
Opinion Bob Dylan, the enigmatic musician, singer and songwriter, turned 84 years old on May 24. His remarkable career has now spanned more than 60 years. He has been bestowed with numerous honours including the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature 'for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.' There can be no denying Dylan's enduring legacy as one of the greatest songwriters in history. But he was and remains a complex personality. The recent film A Complete Unknown is a biopic about his early years in New York City's Greenwich Village from 1961 to 1965, when he literally went from being 'a complete unknown' — a phrase he used in one of his most celebrated songs, Like a Rolling Stone — to the most revered folk singer in United States and beyond. A telling scene takes place the morning after an intimate night Dylan spent with Joan Baez, then a young rising folk star played perfectly by Monica Barbaro. She snaps at Dylan, played equally as perfectly by Timotheé Chalamet. 'You're kind of an asshole, Bob,' says Baez, in response to Dylan's caustic comments about her alleged weak songwriting skills. 'Yeah, I guess,' he mutters, before launching into a rendition of one of his iconic songs, Blowin' in the Wind. Despite her anger, Baez is so taken by the song that she sits down beside Dylan to sing it with him. The real Joan Baez did in fact record her own version of Blowin' in the Wind, among many other Dylan songs she covered. 'Dylanologists' have pointed out several errors in the movie's narrative and the not-quite-correct timeline it uses. Such is literary licence. The film, which reaches its climax at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when Dylan 'went electric' — using an electric rather than acoustic guitar was regarded as an act of 'heresy' by true 'folkies' — is superb nonetheless. I first saw A Complete Unknown last December when it was released and was bowled over by the music and the performances of the main actors. In addition to Chalamet and Barbaro, who both learned how to sing and play the guitar at the same time — Chalamet mastered the harmonica as well — the cast also includes Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, who is supposed to be artist Suze Rotolo, Dylan's first true love and the woman snuggling with him on the cover of his 1963 breakout album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Since the movie started streaming on Disney Plus, I have become somewhat obsessed with it and have watched it another six times. I saw Dylan perform once in Toronto in October 1978. As I recall, much to the consternation of those in attendance, he sang alternate and odd versions of some of his best-known songs. He also lived up to his reputation for being uncommunicative; during the concert, he barely acknowledged the audience. Still, at 37 years old, there was a definite aura about him. A Complete Unknown captures his enormous drive and talent as well as his introverted nature, his attempt to disown his past as Robert Zimmerman, the middle-class son of Jewish parents in Hibbing, Minn., and his insensitive, even callous, treatment of Rotolo and Baez. Both loved him deeply, supported his career, especially Baez, and urged him to embrace the social injustices of the 1960s. And he cheated on both of them. Rotolo, who met him when she was 17 and he was 20, resisted speaking publicly about her relationship with Dylan for more than four decades. She eventually revealed much in her memoir, A Freewheelin' Time, published in 2008 three years before she died from lung cancer at the age of 67. As a younger woman, she could not, as she puts it, deal with the 'aura of darkness and intensity' that 'enveloped' her when she was with him. Baez, who performed melodic duets with Dylan, wrote the haunting song Diamonds and Rust in 1975 about their tormented relationship. She admitted only recently that he broke her heart. Yet, at the age of 84, she says she has finally forgiven him. In a rare 2004 interview with Ed Bradley on the CBS news show 60 Minutes, Dylan conceded that he does not know how he wrote so many poetic songs when he was in his early 20s and did not think he could replicate such a period of creativity again. As the movie depicts, he had a difficult time with his overnight success and the explosive fame it generated. He resented being labelled 'a cultural and political icon.' As he writes in his 2004 memoir, Chronicles, Volume 1, 'people have always told me that I'm a protest singer or the voice of a generation, but I write for me.' His legion of fans, who latched on to his 1964 anthem-like song The Times They Are A-Changin', profoundly disagreed. Rotolo, perhaps understood him best. 'Bob was driven—focused on his path,' she writes. 'He was his own person…Artists we admire aren't necessarily exemplary human beings just because they are exceptional in their chosen fields. Their art is their work offered for public consumption, and nothing else.' Now & Then is a column in which historian Allan Levine puts the events of today in a historical context.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Book Review: 'Fatherhood' studies the impact of family ties through history
The painter Norman Rockwell was known for his depictions of calm, domestic life in America, but his home life was nowhere near those idyllic portraits. In the beginning of 'Fatherhood: A History of Love and Power,' Augustine Sedgewick recounts the troubles that Rockwell faced at home. The artist complained about his wife's drinking and her criticism, and once told one of his sons that he would kill himself if not for his boys. The misery endured by Rockwell kicks off Sedgewick's wide-ranging history of fatherhood, which he calls a 'succession identity crises spanning thousands of years.' Sedgewick's book doesn't offer a clear answer on what it means to be a father, but he offers a series of enlightening stories about how several famous figures have approached fatherhood. It's a motley assortment of dads, ranging from Plato to Bob Dylan. The profiles, at times, feel disjointed, but that doesn't make the details Sedgewick unearths about how the approach to fatherhood changed over the years any less interesting. The book shows how naturalist Charles Darwin's close relationship with his sons helped shaped his research on natural selection. And how Dylan rewrote his happy childhood in Hibbing, Minnesota, as he gained fame and re-invented his story to fit his image. 'Dylan understood, arguably before anyone else, one of the defining emotional truths of rock 'n' roll: a perfectly nice home can sometimes be the worst kind of all,' Sedgewick writes. Sedgewick's book shouldn't be viewed as a guide for fathers or families, but it is a timely read for a point where family roles continue to evolve and be challenged. ___ AP book reviews:
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Rare guitars donated to Witney charity shop fetch £12,000 at auction
A collection of rare guitars anonymously donated to a charity shop, including two favoured by Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan, have fetched more than £12,000 at six valuable guitars and an amp were donated to the Oxfam shop in Witney towards the end of last been assessed by shop volunteers, the guitars were quickly identified as being potentially very valuable and went up for auction last week, where they raised £12, those sold was a Gibson Custom Shop Banner 1942 J-45 acoustic guitar, which was a personal favourite of Elvis Presley. It sold for £2,200, whilst a Martin D-28 acoustic guitar - favoured by artists like Dylan and Neil Young - fetched £3,400. Explaining how he and his fellow Witney volunteers received the donation, Chris Meadows said: "Near the end of last year, a chap came in and asked if we took in guitars as donations.""I don't know anything about guitars, but I remember seeing the cases and thinking they looked valuable – not knowing quite how valuable they were."Mr Meadows said he and his fellow volunteers researched the collection and "pretty quickly realised how special" the guitars were."The very generous gentleman who donated them must have known they were very valuable, and knew what kind of money they might be able to help make for Oxfam," he added. The collection, which was sold at Ewbank's auction house in Woking, Surrey, also included a Gibson ES 335 electric guitar and a Gretsch White Falcon G6136-55VS electric Silke, Ewbank's Music Valuer, said each one of the guitars would be "high on any guitar players' dream list"."Instruments of this quality and condition don't come in every day so this was a very special and generous donation. It is fantastic that they have been able to raise so much money for Oxfam," he said. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
