Dylan Cover #42 Flogging Molly "The Times They Are A-Changin"

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a live cover by Flogging Molly's doing "The Times They Are A Changing"

Thoughts on Dylan Original:
Well it is his most famous song for a reason, it is one of the greatest ever produced in any genre, ever.  

Cover:


Thoughts on Cover Artist:
Flogging Molly does up the Celtic Folk/Rock with joy, but have always been a bit down on my personal list of Irish/American band favorites, usually duking it out with Dropkick Murphys for 3rd or 4th place on the list of things.  The band has a great lyrical touch and blends genre's like Punk/Folk/Rock and have usually added a political tinge to things, equipping their live show with a rally vibe.  Let's See how they do on the cover of a classic...

Thoughts on Cover:
Perhaps the toughest Dylan song to cover as "Times" is his most iconic and really a perfect number in it's original form.  There have also been tons of covers of this song so to stand out would be really something.  Stand out, Stand Up, Jump Up, Flogging Molly's has done up a winning version of this tune and deserve praise.  The tempo changes are exciting after starting the first verse in a traditional sense to kick up the drum beat at the "Come writers and critics" line adding violins and energy to the mix.  A really cool take on a tune that has been covered to death.  Great job.

Grade: A  

Wilson's Take:
Irony is the curse of the Irish.
 
Flogging Molly's "The Times They Are a Changing" is no exception. For given their pounding-Irish-ruckus-of-a-sound the "Times" most certainly are not changing. With this cover, the listener may as well be stumbling through early 20th century Dublin with Joyce.
 
Flogging Molly achieved a modest amount of airtime with "If I Ever Leave This World Alive" - a tune that doesn't get nearly enough credit for the piece of beauty it is. In comparison, every other modern love song sounds cheap...pretentious. Who but the Irish could yoddle: "In a word, don't shed a tear...I'll be here when it all gets weird" and leave you misty-eyed and grateful for departures? You get the sense that the singer's got one arm thrown around his beloved's shoulder, while the other is sloshing around a pint...ahh the Irish! God's very own doomed philosophers.
 
This cover's worth a listen. Where Dylan's original "Times They Are a Changing" now seems like a period piece, Flogging Molly's version reminds us - fittingly - that nothing of the human soul ever changes.