From May 9 to 11, 1994, Bob Dylan was in Ardent Studios, Memphis, Tennessee, with band members Bucky Baxter, John Jackson, Tony Garnier, and Winston Watson, to record a handful of covers. The songs known to have been tried during these sessions were "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" (written by Jerome Solon Felder a.k.a. ”Doc” Pomus, and Reginald Ashby), an early take of Jimmie Rodgers' "My Blue Eyed Jane", Gordon Lightfoot's "I’m Not Supposed To Care", Smiley Lewis' "One Night (Of Sin)", and "Easy Rider (Don’t Deny My Name)". Only "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" and a 45 second excerpt of "My Blue Eyed Jane" have been officially released. The sessions were produced by Dylan.
"Boogie Woogie Country Girl" was a hit record for Big Joe Turner. The flip was a rocking version of "Corrine, Corrina", recorded with the help of Atlantic's Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler. The song had been recorded earlier by other artists, including The Mississippi Sheiks. The Sheiks, under two different names, recorded two earlier versions under two different titles. Dylan's "Corrina, Corrina" from 1963's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan featured some of the same lyrics, even though the music and some of the lyrics have been traced to Robert Johnson's "Stones In My Passway".
On Theme Time Radio Hour, Dylan played Turner's "After My Laughter Came Tears" and "Rock of Gibraltar". In his song "High Water (For Charley Patton)", Dylan name-checked Turner.
(Rhino)
Dylan's cover of "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" was released on the tribute album, Till The Night Is Gone: A Tribute To Doc Pomus, released on Rhino Records in 1995. At the time, Rhino was crowing that this was Dylan's best vocal in ages - and they may have been correct.
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Comments
Red hot music recorded in Memphis, the birthplace of Rock 'n' Roll
My Blue Eyed Jane was released in its entirety on a 1997 Jimmie Rodgers Tribute CD.
To Echo -
Just to clarify : The excerpt was available on the Interactive Music CD-ROM "Highway 61 Interactive", from 1995. A version with Emmylou Harris was on a preview tape of the Jimmie Rodgers album, and Dylan once again recorded a new vocal for the final product you mentioned.
Thanks for your comments, Harold Lepidus.
Thanks for the information. I've wondered for a while where and when "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" and "Blue Eyed Jane" were recorded, and now I know.
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