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Jemmy Joe – “Song And Dance Man” Review

Jemmy Joe - Song And Dance Man

Listen, anybody who has attended a Bob Dylan concert or picked up one of the live discs without checking the liner notes, and claims to know what song the great man was singing is lying. It doesn’t matter if it was “Like a Rolling Stone” in the key in which it was recorded. Yet, we have only one Bob Dylan. 

The curly-haired Minessota-born songwriter once threatened to hire Bob Dylan look-alikes and send them out into the world. In the end, he sparred us and embarked on The Never Ending Tour, a list of live commitments that never stop. And while many other famous musicians impersonated him, we only have one Bob Dylan. 

At the same time, Dylan’s songs are so good and so important, and there are so many of them that he has given so many other musicians and admirers so much to work with and for so long. Dylan’s songs are just being discovered. It doesn’t matter how old some of them are. 

One of the people to rediscover and reinterpret them, most interestingly, is Jeremy Joe. He isn’t just interested in Dylan, the songwriter, but Dylan, the historical figure of which nearly everyone in the world, or, at least surely in the U.S., knows a little bit about. Show kids a picture of Bob, Elvis or MLK, and they’ll probably know each one. 

But what songs to choose from such a vast repertoire? Jemmy Joe opts, generally, for the least obvious ones. In fact, Dylan hagiographers and bootleg collectors will rejoice. 

The “Song and Dance Man” album begins with a rendition of the beautiful, underrated “Dark Eyes.” If Iron & Wine’s cover went for sentimentality, Jemmy Joe’s, more fittingly, is playful. 

In fact, there’s an innocent enthusiasm throughout this. Jemmy Joe brings it all back home with stacked vocals showcasing the exuberance of “She Belongs to Me” and the synth grooves that accentuate the lyrics of “Mississippi.”

Much of the rest of the record is a love letter to Dylan collecting itself. Few of the other songs are colossally famous. All of them could be. Jemmy Joe delivers a cascading folk rendition of “Lenny Bruce” and a dry, sinister telling of “The Man in the Long Black Coat.”

“Clean Cut Kid” is a real highlight. The back-and-forth vocals and rumble make it sound like the 1980s The Replacements are taking a drunken stab at it. And “Life is Hard” is a serenade for those who are left just out of reach. 

Critics have, notoriously, been baffled by Dylan’s releases through the years. He’s rarely done what they expected. On collections like these and in the passion for the music of the likes of Jemmy Joe, all of it makes sense. 

Where does it leave us? Jemmy Joe sings us off with “Death is Not the End,” and, if only for a moment, you believe it. 

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About author

Eduard Banulescu is a writer, blogger, and musician. As a content writer, Eduard has contributed to numerous websites and publications, including FootballCoin, Play2Earn, BeIN Crypto, Business2Community, NapoliSerieA, Extra Time Talk, Nitrogen Sports, Bavarian FootballWorks, etc. He has written a book about Nirvana, hosts a music podcasts, and writes weekly content about some of the best, new and old, alternative musicians. Eduard also runs and acts as editor-in-chief of the alternative rock music website www.alt77.com. Mr. Banulescu is also a musician, having played and recorded in various bands and as a solo artist.
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