Capturing those moments of cover song bliss from Bob Dylan is a treat for listeners of the future. His cover of Stand By Me is an occasion to celebrate. No, not the Ben E. King song, this is not Dylan taking a glimpse at the modern thrills of great American song. Everyone from John Lennon to U2 and Bruce Springsteen has performed Stand By Me. Why would Dylan, too? It is a song which has transcended traditional genre expectations, as evidenced by the Snoop Dogg performance, which acted as a tribute to his late mother, Beverly Tate, who died the same night he performed the King original. That is a song which has soared above the very barriers and limitations of genre. Of performance, too. This is not the King rendition, though. This is a piece from Charles Albert Tindley, and Dylan’s performance is nothing short of mesmerising.
Dylan would go on to give hymns their place on stage in performances, though its place here, from a gig in Indiana, 1990, is a surprise. Off the back of Oh Mercy and the cover songs to come, there was a brief window where Dylan became a modern staple, however briefly. He would cement such an image with Time Out of Mind towards the end of the decade, but there was certainly a chance for the veteran performer to become a more involved, relevant chart figure again during this period. Stand By Me is not the reason Dylan never made it to that lofty place permanently at this point, of course not, but it is an interesting note of where his mind was when it came to performance. Tindley may be a name of interest to those who remember the Bruce Springsteen album, The Seeger Sessions, which featured a cover of We Shall Overcome. What Dylan offers with his rendition is a delicate take on a longstanding song.
That is what we expect of legends on the stage, and that is what Dylan delivers here. There is a reflective, grieving mood in the air for this performance. That may be why Dylan roars through a short, but blistering cover of Stand By Me. The guitar work found here is magnificent, a modernisation of a classic song, performed just a day after the death of Under the Red Sky collaborator, Stevie Ray Vaughan. The whole set features a sombre mood, a reliance on covers, with The Band’s Tears of Rage also featuring. Stand By Me is great enough in isolation, though, a charming cover tinged with the gospel music Dylan had been performing on stage for much of the preceding decade. What remains a surprise is what Dylan can add to those moments in the sincerity of his performance.
Most artists are defined in their set by which songs they wish to cover. The Killers bringing out Springsteen, for instance, or the Hank Williams covers which occasionally crop up in a Van Morrison set, those are moments which define the performance. Dylan manages to slip Stand By Me, and a handful of other traditional songs, into his set and make them sound like his own work. He has a broad stroke for the guitar, which aids those left-field choices, helps them find their place with a reciprocating audience. That is the thrill of Stand By Me, that, and the earnestness which comes from the singer on stage, making his peace once more with the divine during a no doubt rough and shock-filled period.
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