Just Like Doug Sahm’s Blues

How in the name of Billy Joe Shaver did I overlook the Sir Douglas Quintet covering “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues?” It’s only one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs! Well, inspired by stewART’s link to the Dylan/Sahm rendition in last post’s comments, said oversight is now corrected — and hopefully improved upon.

Sir Douglas Quintet (w/Alvin Crow) – Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
Whisky A Go-Go, LA
1983
Amazon
Sir Douglas Quintet (w/Alvin Crow) – Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

Taken from a 1983 gig at the Whisky a Go Go in LA and released on Live: Texas Tornado, the SDQ is joined by fellow Austinite, Alvin Crow, on fiddle, guitar, and vocals. Despite a couple of clams, including Doug forgetting the first line (D’oh!!!), the performance is gold. I love Sahm’s harmony vocals, which channel Atwood Allen at his most high-flyin. Incidentally, I think the “I started out on burgundy” verse here mirrors Doug’s later reading of the “cocaine” verse on Uncle Tupelo’s cover of “Give Back The Key To My Heart.”

Bob Dylan (w/Doug Sahm) – Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
Austin Music Hall, Austin, TX
November 5, 1995
Bob Dylan (w/Doug Sahm) – Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

“Well, I started out on burgundy, but soon hit the harder stuff
Well, they said they’d stick with me, Bobby, when the going got rough
Well, I looked around Austin, Texas, there wasn’t nobody else left to bluff
I’m going back to Vancouver Island, I do believe I’ve had enough.”

Epic cover. Sahm steals the show with his lyrical improv, but there’s no way Dylan didn’t love it. Doug actually sat in on guitar for a few songs, but I think the guitar solos here are taken by Bob. The timing would be right. It was in the mid-’90s — before he hired Larry Campbell, basically — that Dylan played a lot of lead guitar, most memorably on the MTV Unplugged album. Anyone know for sure?

By the way, for the three of you who don’t own the Dylan original, you can find “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” on an obscure, import-only LP called Highway 61 Revisited (1965). Thank God the Beastie Boys sampled this tune on Check Your Head, otherwise the Bob Dylan name might’ve faded into obscurity. Speaking of the Beasties, when I originally published this post, this hilarious false flag was included on the “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” Wiki page (since removed, unfortunately):

The Beastie Boys sampled the lyric “I’m going back to New York City, I do believe I’ve had enough” for their song, “Finger Lickin’ Good,” on the Check Your Head album. Bob Dylan requested $2000 for use of the sample, but Mike D managed to barter him down to $700.