Matter Of Survival

"Won't somebody hand me a bible, won't you give me that number to call..." Have to admit I'm not too well-versed in late-era Van, as I kinda stopped paying attention since the fine A Sense Of Wonder from '85. This gem from the late nineties sure is up there with his classic stuff though. Honking sax a bonus. Not too original a choice admittedly, as Greil Marcus - love him or hate him, I never really can decide - named a whole book on Van the Man after it. Oh well, here goes. Take that ride.

Van Morrison - Rough God Goes Riding

Yo, how does it feel?

A whole book on one song sounds a bit rich, even if the song in question is Like A Rolling Stone. But in Like A Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan At The Crossroads, author Greil Marcus showed it could be done. Easily. Anyway, this post is not about that book, it´s about a cover version of Dylan´s masterpiece that Marcus mentions quite enthousiastically. About an outfit called the Mystery Tramps and their hiphop-stylee cover version of Like A Rolling Stone. And since I´m both a Bobcat and a sucker for curios, I just had to check it out .

The cd single was released in 1993 on ä records and is long out of print, but I managed to hunt it down and yo, it´s not bad at all. Funny enough it starts with a sample of the original intro (that masterly organ riff by Al Kooper). The - white - rapper is hamming it up just a bit too much for my liking, but the talking girl ("spare change, anybody?" and "hey! where´s my stuff") cracks me up every time. Plus it´s rather alienating to hear such a familiar song in such a completely different musical setting. "This is a story about a girl who goes from riches to rags, and it´s a drag, so check it ouuuut."

Mystery Tramps - Like A Rolling Stone MP3