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[miko2]

Today's Song: All Along the Watchtower by June Tabor and the Oyster Band

typographer says that I need to list this song as my song of the day. I've mentioned it once or twice, but he discovered it all on his own by sampling versions of the Bob Dylan song on iTunes. He downloaded the Bob Dylan version, and the Jimi Hendrix version, and then listened to many other versions before downloading this version by June Tabor and the Oysterband. He now says it's his favorite version. It's been my favorite version for a long time, so I'm in agreement with him.

June Tabor is an English folk singer with an amazing alto voice. The Oyster Band is one of the best modern folk rock bands around. Quite a long time ago (aroune 1990 I think?) they got together and did an album called Freedom and Rain which is a wonderful disc to listen to. The Oyster Band are a great bunch of musicians, and June Tabor is a master of covering old songs with new arrangements. Every song on that cd is a cover but June makes them all her own.

All Along the Watchtower is not on that cd. During the Freedom and Rain tour, they did a promo-only sampler cd that included live versions of some of the songs on the cd, and also several other covers not found on the cd, including I Fought the Law, White Rabbit, and All Along the Watchtower.

There was a time when I was hanging out at the radio station at Bellevue Community College on a regular basis, and I went through their music catalogue. I found this promo cd and copied it to tape. I especially loved the All Along the Watchtower cover, and I was very sad to realize that this cd was not available to buy anywhere. Nor was it likely to ever be issued in the future, since June Tabor and the Oyster Band only got together for that one tour.

Then one day I found a copy of the promo cd in a Half Price Books store, and I was happy.

These days you can actually download this song from iTunes, so anyone can have it. It's a good version.

I can't link you to a "June Tabor and the Oyster Band" web site, of course, but they have two videos up on Youtube:

Mississippi
Love Will Tear Us Apart