Songs
Self Portrait was heavily criticized for its performances and overall production, with many critics singling out various songs as poor cover choices.
However, one track has managed to draw consistent praise over the years. Written by Alfred Frank Beddoe (who was "discovered" by Pete Seeger after applying for work at People’s Songs, Inc. in 1946), "Copper Kettle" captures an idyllic backwoods existence, where moonshine is equated not only with pleasure but with tax resistance. Appalachian farmers who struggled to make their living off the land would routinely siphon off a percentage of their corn in order to distill whiskey. Everything produced would then be hidden from the government in order to avoid the whiskey tax of 1791.
Clinton Heylin writes, "'Copper Kettle'...strike all the right chords...being one of the most affecting performances in Dylan's entire official canon." Music critic Tim Riley called it "an ingenious Appalachian zygote for rock attitudes, the hidden source of John Wesley Harding's shadows."
"Copper Kettle" was popularised by Joan Baez and appeared on her best-selling 1962 LP Joan Baez in Concert.
Among the original songs written for the album, the instrumental "Wigwam" later achieved notoriety for its use in the 2001 Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums. "Living the Blues" was later covered by Leon Redbone. "Living The Blues" was also covered by Jamie Saft Trio with Antony Hegarty on the album Trouble: The Jamie Saft Trio Plays Bob Dylan, in 2006. "All the Tired Horses" only features two lines, and is sung only by a female backing group. The song featured in the 2001 film Blow.
The only song on the album that can be considered psychedelic is the party-friendly romp "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)," a song originally recorded at the 1967 Basement Tapes sessions, covered to great success by Manfred Mann in 1968. For live venues, The Grateful Dead and Phish made the song an iconic favorite. The version on Self Portrait, however, is a soundboard-sourced live performance from Dylan and the Band's 1969 Isle of Wight concert (as are three other tracks on the album).
Read more about this topic: Self Portrait (Bob Dylan Album)
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