THIS PAGE WAS POSTED TO THE WEB BY NEIL LITT, HOST OF THE INTERNET-ONLY
FREE-FORM RADIO PROGRAM, "MY MIDLIFE CRISIS" GENE AUSTIN |
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THIS PAGE WAS POSTED TO THE WEB BY NEIL LITT, HOST OF THE INTERNET-ONLY
FREE-FORM RADIO PROGRAM, "MY MIDLIFE CRISIS" GENE AUSTIN |
|
The Inspiration for Bob Dylan's "Sugar Baby?" Doing a computer search of the Princeton University Music Library about a year ago, looking for a particular old track, I found the track I was looking for on a set of year-by-year compilations of the top Billboard pop tunes that went all the way back to 1927 and I naturally had to hear the whole set. Gene Austin was on a few of the discs from the late 1920s and I liked his phrasing. His recording of "Lonesome Road" reminded me of something but it was a good long time before I realized what it was. If you listen to this recording and then play "Sugar Baby" from Bob Dylan's Love and Theft, you'll hear an identical bass progression, a similar melody, and, finally, Bob lifting two lines from "Lonesome Road" toward the end of his song. This is how folk music evolves. It's thrilling to see how different two songs coming from the same root can be! |
| Listen to the .mp3 version of "Lonesome Road" by Gene Austin or right-click on the download link to download it to listen to offline.
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