Bob Dylan and His Band were in Augusta, Georgia earlier this week where the band welcomed fans for a performance at The Bell Auditorium as part of his ongoing, 30-years-and-running Never Ending Tour. The folk-rock legend decided to make the night’s performance a memorable one for those in attendance, as he and the band closed out the show by introducing their first-ever cover of “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World”, initially co-written and performed by Augusta’s own James Brown.
According to Rolling Stone, the performance of the heartfelt soul track on Wednesday evening was the first time Dylan had ever performed one of Brown’s songs live. The tune was initially released as a single in April of 1966, and included on a full album by the same name, which arrived in August of that year. Dylan must have thought of the cover as a fitting tribute to the late soul singer, who grew up in the Augusta area of Georgia and eventually began the early stages of his career around the southern city.
A fan-shot clip of Dylan’s performance can be watched in the social media video shared below, in addition to Brown’s original version for casual comparison. Dylan’s live version stays relatively close to the original in terms of overall presentation, with the familiar triple-time tempo pacing the song forward while his guitarist walks right alongside him in playing those ascending and descending arpeggio lines. The fan-shot video begins towards the latter half of the first verse, where Dylan can be heard singing, “To take us out of the dark/Man made the boat for the water.” The song was the only cover of the 20-song performance on Wednesday evening, and concluded the two-song encore following Dylan’s own famous ballad, “Blowin’ in the Wind”.
Bob Dylan – It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World”
[Video: Kozta Rica]
James Brown – “It’s A Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World”
[Video: NoMadU55555]
Dylan will continue his North American fall tour throughout the rest of November and into early December. The 77-year-old will visit Charlotte, North Carolina’s Ovens Auditorium on Friday night before heading to cities in Kentucky, Ohio and the northeast leading up to his seven-show residency at New York City’s Beacon Theatre to close out the month of November. Dylan also celebrated the recent deluxe edition box set reissue of his 1975 Blood On The Tracks LP, which arrived just last Friday.
[H/T Rolling Stone]