tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-278350098422780419.post5614422174138198773..comments2023-03-22T16:31:44.413+01:00Comments on Groucho Mark's Emporium Of Opinion: Day 19: A song from my favourite albumMark Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04147719968298896108noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-278350098422780419.post-39777257130648819002010-04-20T16:21:41.885+02:002010-04-20T16:21:41.885+02:00Yeah - that's true of quite a few of the tradi...Yeah - that's true of quite a few of the traditional songs on the Basement Tapes, actually. There are a few moments of darkness, but on the whole they err on the cheerful side, as befits a bunch of mates getting drunk and jamming together. I suspect that if Dylan had recorded the same song a few years earlier, back in his earnest-folkie period, it'd have been very different.<br /><br />None of the Basement Tapes performances of trad material are anything like definitive, but most of them have some charm anyway - as you say, good folk music can handle being played in a variety of styles.Mark Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04147719968298896108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-278350098422780419.post-2251038192016369612010-04-20T14:21:05.065+02:002010-04-20T14:21:05.065+02:00I love The Auld Triangle, but I hadn't heard t...I love The Auld Triangle, but I hadn't heard this version. In the versions by The Dubliners and The Pogues there's a lamenting quality (a whininess, actually, but in a good way) that has something to do with the timing. In this version the time signature is straightened out and it becomes a much more cheerful song about being stuck in prison. Which is fair enough, I think. Behan's lyrics can handle either interpretation.<br /><br />EmmaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com