MIGHTY QUINN
“Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)” is a folk-rock song written by Bob Dylan and first recorded during The Basement Tapes sessions in 1967. The song was recorded in December 1967 and first released in January 1968 as “Mighty Quinn” by the British band Manfred Mann and became a great success. The subject of the song is the arrival of Quinn (an Eskimo), who changes despair into joy and chaos into rest, and attracts attention from the animals. Dylan is widely believed to have derived the title character from actor Anthony Quinn’s role as an Eskimo in the 1960 movie The Savage Innocents. Dylan has also been quoted as saying that the song was nothing more than a “simple nursery rhyme”. (More from Wikipedia)
What attracted the most attention on Great White Wonder were seven songs recorded by Bob Dylan with the Band, probably at a house called Big Pink that is referenced in the name of the debut album released by the Band, Music from Big Pink (1968). They are clustered mostly on Side 4 and also include the last two songs on Side 2; in order (as listed on the Great White Wonder labels), they are “Mighty Quinn”, “This Wheel’s on Fire”, “I Shall Be Released”, “Open the Door, Richard!”, “Too Much of Nothing”, “Nothing Was Delivered”, and “Tears of Rage”. All great songs, no question; but this was barely a quarter of the music, and many people seem to think that the earlier acoustical songs that I loved equally well didn’t matter. I have never felt that way myself; Great White Wonder is great from one end to the other to these ears.
(September 2017)
