Bob Dylan – Gotta Serve Somebody (Grammy’s 1980) Review

Those who attended at the Grammy Awards show in 1980 will no doubt have been thrilled to see Bob Dylan was set to perform. This is hot off the back of The Rolling Thunder Revue, of Desire, and even of Street-Legal. A collection of real quality works there and even Slow Train Coming had been received relatively well. Not as inspired as his previous works, but solid stock work which had a hint of religious messaging. More than a hint, actually. Gotta Serve Somebody takes centre stage on the Grammy Awards show of 1980, a performance that would fall on the same night as he won an award for that very song. Gotta Serve Somebody would be the last win for Dylan until the next decade, and it would be fifteen years until he received a solo career win. The Traveling Wilburys put an end to the dry spell, but the win before that was for this song. Gotta Serve Somebody is awards worthy.  

Where Dylan has always changed his on-stage presence, he looks very different here compared to the tours immediately before and after. He looks stern, sounds focused on delivering each line with the same conviction with which it was written. It’s a massive change of pace from the veteran performer and watching this develop is a real thrill. A fantastic contrast to how delighted the bass player is to be performing Gotta Serve Somebody, knees bent and thrusting to the beat of a song about serving the Lord. Quite a hilarious image for the show but it, in a weird way, adds to the shift in tone Dylan was making at the time. It isn’t the instrumental effectiveness that’s loosened but the lyrical tone, the clear change in writing about belief rather than feeding it into another story. It’s crucial to hear that change when the instrumental strength is still there, as it remains on the album version of Gotta Serve Somebody.  

This performance is relatively close to that version. Gotta Serve Somebody is a rarity for Dylan in that the instrumental tone is not wildly changed, nor are there major vocal differences. Quite a nasally performance, but so too is the Slow Train Coming material. He sounds fantastic, irrespective, and the performance itself, with the collection of backing vocalists off in the background, is a great watch. It’s such a massively different sound from Dylan at the time, not instrumentally but in what he’s singing about. Instrumentally, there’s a tremendous guitar solo halfway through the song, a real treat before Dylan seemingly forgets the words and pauses for a moment. Still, he recovers by throwing a harmonica solo towards the end of the song, a delightful experience.  

Gotta Serve Somebody, or at least this performance, showcases what Dylan has always managed to maintain. There’s an intensity to his work which is hidden well by the lighter instrumental tone, the songwriting which revolves around a belief system that may not match with a listener, it’s an interesting experience at the very least. Crucial, too, is it seems Dylan is enjoying himself. A flicker of a smile after he’s hammered out a harmonica solo can be spotted by keen-eyed viewers. Grammy Awards performances from this era were about to slip into the pop and synth spot, but Gotta Serve Somebody is a real antithesis to that style, not just because of who’s performing. It’s a remarkable experience with a song that isn’t quite paid its dues but should be. This performance may swing it into the good graces of listeners on the fence about Slow Train Coming as a whole, let alone Gotta Serve Somebody.