Monday, February 17, 2020

Dylan Cover #415 John Cruz "Jokerman" Live

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is live a cover by John Cruz playing "Jokerman"

Thoughts on Original:
From the first time we tackled a cover of this tune:
The kick-start to his "back to rock and roll" album Infidels, "Jokerman" is a monster. A torrent of images, symbols, thoughts, proclamations, fears and fables; it feels like a dam was broken in Dylan's brain and all of these things just poured out. Musically it moves along but doesn't add much to the towering wordplay as the tune is dominated by the lyrics which seem almost never ending; Dylan has penned wordier tunes, but few feel as heavy as this. Flawed, but reaching for something, it is a not an all-time great Dylan song, but it is one that lets us peak into his brain a bit. For more on this tune, check out this post.
Cover:

Thoughts on Cover Artist:
RtBE have not heard of John Cruz before. He is a singer-songwriter from Hawaii and more info can be found on his Facebook page.

Thoughts on Cover:
A tough tune to cover and John does a great straight ahead job with some fine upbeat strumming to propel the elongated track forward. 

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