WHO KILLED DAVEY MOORE
"Who Killed Davey Moore" is a topical song written in 1963 by American folk singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. Though the song was not commercially released on Dylan's several studio albums in the 1960s, it was popular in his repertoire for live shows during that era. Dylan's performance of the song at Carnegie Hall on October 26, 1963, would later be released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 in 1991; and an October 1964 performance is on The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall, released in 2004. (More from Wikipedia)
Two of my favorite topical songs by Bob Dylan, “Who Killed Davey Moore” (a live performance) and “Percy’s Song” are included on John Birch Society Blues. Davey Moore was a boxer who lost a fight in March 1963 and died a few days later. One by one, beginning with the line “not me”, Dylan sings a verse on behalf of the referee, the crowd, the manager, the gambling man, the boxing writer, and finally, his opponent in the match (Sugar Ramos), “the man whose fists, laid him low in a cloud of mist” – demonstrating that they each shared some culpability in what happened but could ultimately not be blamed directly for the death. Dylan shows some of his trademark humor when talking of the gambling man and how he wasn’t liable: “Anyway I put money on him to win”. The final verse ends with a quote from Davey Moore’s widow about her husband’s death, “it was God’s will”.
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I will have more to say about Bob Dylan bootleg albums in a future post(s), but I will mention in passing that Dylan has released a staggering amount of his older music in a variety of formats, including but not exclusively in The Bootleg Series. When Dylan agreed to start doing this, he secured an agreement from the record company that was non-negotiable: The recording quality has to be good no matter what. The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 was released in 1991 and includes a live version of “Who Killed Davey Moore”. I had to play it several times to be sure but finally concluded that it is the same live performance included on John Birch Society Blues, even though the difference in the sound of the two recordings is dramatic. Even so, I am happy to have both of them; I was never dissatisfied with the quality of “Who Killed Davey Moore” as it appears on John Birch Society Blues. A new volume in this series, The Bootleg Series Vol. 13: Trouble No More 1979–1981 about Dylan’s Christian albums, was released in November 2017.
(September 2017)
