Bob Dylan – I Am the Man, Thomas Review

This is more than just a cover for Bob Dylan. Part of his touring schedule came to rely on I Am the Man, Thomas just as he plays That Old Black Magic almost every show of the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour. There are dozens of religious-oriented pieces from Dylan and this is no different to the co-ordinated efforts at bringing his beliefs to the stage. But it is another cover and a joyous one at that. Dylan and the band give it the swinging, country range needed to carry it through. I Am the Man, Thomas is one of the brisker covers from Dylan but it still marks a wonderful experience – an interesting take on his deeply-held beliefs and how bringing them to life on stage is a way of inviting listeners into the rarely seen side of his life. 

Short and sweet, a brisk play through I Am the Man, Thomas where verses are merged and instrumentals swing through – the occasional flutter of bass heard over the overwhelming acoustic experience. Religious-oriented topics in the music of Dylan is no surprise and by this point in his career, he had two decades of music which sounded closer to gospel than it did his earliest hits. Not for everyone, but certainly an interesting period which appears to have been exonerated by the further covers of his return to form and stems somewhat from a fury at flubbing a few of his more endearing songs. They did not work in the studio but found new life on stage, such is the promise of shocking new arrangements or laying out his love for one track or another. Dylan does so with I Am the Man, Thomas. 

A railroad arrangement with a swinging country tinge to it gives this cover a joyful optimism. It does not quite fit with the writings Dylan would offer his personable yet frightful conviction to the Almighty, but this is a neat tribute to a bluegrass classic. Once again, the material is elevated not in quality but taken in a new direction, some bold push for a reinvigorated sound. The man in question is close to Godliness and in this, there is a unifying and expected love heard within. This comes through with the heavy bass intonations and the presence of a singer plying his religious understanding. Many will discard the religious period Dylan went through as not as up to scratch as his earlier works, but these offer some of the most open examples of his personable approach to writing. 

And in their own way, so do the covers. I Am the Man, Thomas may not have been crafted by Dylan but it certainly slots into his shows well enough. He offers it the same care and interest as the memorable covers of his time, the Hootchie Cootchie Man’s and Big River turns of later tours. I Am the Man, Thomas is as interesting as you find the period of the early 1980s Dylan career. Quick as a flash and pretty enjoyable work – more for the context of which it relies so heavily on than the performance itself. Neat enough but not a piece taken anywhere wild, though the instrumental joy heard in this performance is hard to argue with. Whoops from the crowd, a fixture of religious subtext and an acoustic drive are hard to dislike when Dylan is at the helm.