Let’s start off 2009 with a great one. In January, Bob Dylan appeared in Malibu alongside Ry Cooder (on guitar) and Van Dyke Parks (keyboards) to record two Woody Guthrie songs for the television special The People Speak, a film based loosely on the work of Howard Zinn that aired in December of the same year. The trio did “Vigilante Man” (which I haven’t heard – Bjorner indicates that it isn’t circulating) and “Do Re Mi”. Here’s the latter from the film:

Isn’t that just great? Yes, Dylan’s voice is on its way to gone, but his phrasing is superb here. I love this.

I was in California two weeks ago on a short vacation and I had this song (not this version) stuck in my head the entire time. It’s one of my favourite Guthrie songs.

There is just something pleasing about Dylan, fifty years later, still up there doing Woody Guthrie. That’s awesome, that’s what that is.