On a Strange Bob Dylan Project

Bob Dylan Hears a Who. And The Cat in the Hat. And Green Eggs and Ham.

Bob Dylan doing Dr. Seuss. 🙂

Okay, it’s not really Bob Dylan. But it’s a reasonable fascimile, and… it works. It works surprisingly well. It’s not just one song, like Fleming & John’s “Winter Wonderland” in the style of Led Zeppelin’s “Misty Mountain Hop.” It’s a whole album, fifty minutes worth of Dylan-y Dr. Seuss goodness. The website streams the entire album, and you can also download a zip file of the seven songs–“Oh, the Things You Can Think,” “Green Eggs and Ham,” “Miss Gertrude McFuzz,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “Too Many Daves,” “The Zax,” and “The Cat in the Hat.”

There’s this interesting review of the Dylan Hears a Who album at the Guardian:

The results are magnificent. Not only does the band brilliantly capture the Highway 61 Revisited-era sound but the vocalist pulls off the imitation with such exactness you’d swear this was some secret jest Dylan knocked off back in the 70s to amuse young Jakob. Rather like a Glunk that can’t be unthunk, once you hear it you’ll never be able to listen to Dylan in the same way again.

Yeah, that’s about right. It’s not impossible to imagine Bob Dylan, after toking up, pulling out his guitar and just going on a Dr. Suess story. It really does sound like Bob Dylan.

It’s the strangest, silliest, most mind-bogglingly original tribute album I’ve ever heard.

And I love it. 🙂

ETA (10 April 2008): This post used to have a link to the “Dylan Hears a Who” website, where you could download this fantastic album.

Unfortunately, the Theodore Geisel estate frowned on Dylan Hears a Who, so the website was taken down.

Which means that generations of children won’t have their minds blown by the sound of a Bob Dylan soundalike doing The Cat In The Hat.

Which is really quite remarkable, and should be heard.

You know what sucks?

This album is truer in spirit to the works of Dr. Seuss than virtually any other Seussian adaptation.

Maybe you can find it on a torrent. Maybe.

It’s worth searching out. 🙂