Our previous Neil Young covers post featured none other than Bob Dylan tackling “Old Man,” so I thought I’d share the entire comp from which that curiosity came. Just A Song & Dance Man collects the weird/wonderful covers Dylan performed live during the weird/wonderful year of 2002. It starts off predictably enough, with a handful of folk/gospel/country numbers — the sort of stuff that’s been Bob’s bread and butter during the Neverending Tour days. But then things start to get strange. There are no less than four Warren Zevon tunes (it had just been announced that Zevon was dying of cancer), including a wrenching rendition of “Mutineer.” There’s the Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” — Bob’s joking attempt at sounding “like a Rolling Stone”? There’s a poignant reading of Van Morrison’s “Carrying A Torch.” Oddest of all, Bob and his band play Don Henley’s “End of the Innocence,” perhaps giving some in the audience hope that Henley, too, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer (kidding, Don, love ya, never change!). Finally, there’s a touching tribute to the then-recently deceased George Harrison, as Dylan sings his heart out on “Something.” All in all, it makes for a fun, unpredictable listen.

I feel like I've barely scratched the surface with WZ, but I never feel bad about it, because I always feel like there's something there waiting for me to discover it.

When the lights came up at two, I caught a glimpse of you
And your face looked like something Death brought with him in his suitcase

I grew a much deeper appreciation for Zevon, and this song in particular, after staying up til the wee hours in the morning in Spain laughing my ass off/watching in awe with my GF and her father drunk on rose and scotch. What a performance!

Warren Zevon – acoustic guitar, bass guitar, guitar, piano, keyboards, emulator, vocals
Bill Berry – drums
Peter Buck – guitar
Mike Mills – bass guitar
Jorge Calderón – bass guitar on "Sentimental Hygiene"; harmony on "Detox Mansion"
Mike Campbell – guitar on "Reconsider Me"
Darius Degher – sitar on "Bad Karma"
Bob Dylan – harmonica on "The Factory"
Amp Fiddler – keyboards on "Leave My Monkey Alone"
Flea – bass guitar on "Leave My Monkey Alone"
Don Henley – harmony on "Trouble Waiting to Happen"
DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight – guitar on "Leave My Monkey Alone"
Craig Krampf – drums on "Reconsider Me" and "Leave My Monkey Alone"
Tony Levin – bass guitar on "Reconsider Me"
David Lindley – lap steel guitar on "Detox Mansion", bowed saz on "Bad Karma"
Stan Lynch – harmony on "Bad Karma"
Rick Richards – guitar on "Even a Dog Can Shake Hands"
Brian Setzer – lead guitar on "Trouble Waiting to Happen"
Leland Sklar – bass guitar on "The Heartache"
Michael Stipe – harmony on "Bad Karma"
Waddy Wachtel – acoustic guitar on "Sentimental Hygiene", "Reconsider Me" and "The Heartache"
Jennifer Warnes – harmony on "The Heartache"
Jai Winding – keyboards on "Reconsider Me"
Neil Young – lead guitar on "Sentimental Hygiene"
Will Alexander, Brian Bell – computer programming on "Leave My Monkey Alone"