In the 60s, Columbia ran a “Nobody Sings Dylan Like Dylan” advertising campaign. It’s absolutely true that Bob Dylan’s unprecedented voice is the ideal way to deliver his unmatchable compositions, but it’s also true that the guy is one of greatest songwriters we’ll ever hear, so it’s no surprise that a long list of top voices have wanted to wrap themselves in his words and music. For example, everyone from Neil Young to Bryan Ferry have performed ace interpretations of Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” which I present here in Nina Simone’s version. I recognize that Simone’s RCA years aren’t among her best, in part because she performed too many songs intended to ingratiate her with a young audience and this recording was probably part of that attempt. But this slowed-down take brings the original new places, most of them both luxurious and unsettling.
I couldn’t find a clip of Simone singing this song, but Jesse Dylan did locate a weird mashup on YouTube: Simone’s performance as the soundtrack for clips from an unfinished Marilyn Monroe movie. (It’s very mildly NSFW.) “Somehow it works,” Jesse notes.