Greg Mitchell is the author of more than a dozen books including “The Tunnels” “Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady” and “The Campaign of the Century” and now writer/director of three award-winning films aired via PBS, including “Atomic Cover-up” and “Memorial Day Massacre.” You can still subscribe to this newsletter for free:
Before we get to or usual/unusual political cartoon potshots: For me, the much-awaited (by some) Timmy/Zimmy tribute on SNL this past weekend was kind of a dud—even though I never believed the rumors that Bob was going to jet to the East Coast to introduce Chalamet at midnight (the duty falling to, ugh, Adam Sandler). It was good to hear Timothee say at the outset that he would be performing two of his favorite Dylan songs that most may have never heard or heard of them. Okay, deep cuts! Not another “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Unfortunately, his idea of a great Dylan song amounted to two of Bob’s weaker efforts in that 1965-1970 period, “Outlaw Blues” and “Three Angels.”
Like many, no doubt, I turned it off at that point and was surprised to see that he returned for a decent “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.” So if you too missed it, here is that song below, followed by 1) Bob’s original 1963 demo, 2) the much-cited Elvis version (his only Dylan cover?), 3) and then from two of my favorite Brits: Sandy Denny from her final concert and Nick Drake in a home recording.
Bob:
Elvis:
Sandy:
Nick:
Monday Tooning:
The great Ann Telnaes, who fled the Washington Post after her cartoon was killed, now has a Substack with daily offerings, such as:
Steve Brodner on the Trump cabinet:
I was always partial to Judy Collins’s version myself.
Greg, always love your opinions, but I've got to disagree with you on Chalamet. I thought his choices (and look) were brave and quite Dylan-esque ("Don’t ask me nothin’ about nothin’,
I just might tell you the truth").
And, "Three Angels", although not the most melodic song, surely scored with the final lyric:
"The angels play on their horns all day,
The whole earth in progression seems to pass by,
But does anyone hear the music they play
Does anyone even try?"