Thursday, March 11, 2010

Obscure Fact: Dylan Wrote A Song About My Town

I was skeptical at first, when a friend posted on Facebook that the great Bob Dylan co-wrote a song about Champaign in 1969 with Carl Perkins. I'm a Dylan fan and I had never heard of it. But my friend, Google, found this excerpt from a book by Clinton Heylin, which confirms it. Apparently he never recorded it, and when he was here for the first Farm Aid concert in September, 1985 (where I was present,) he didn't sing it. I particularly like the first lines:

I got a woman in Morocco
I got a woman in Spain
Woman that done stole my heart,
She lives up in Champaign

Here is a Youtube video of Carl Perkins singing the song, with some great photos taken around the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. Cool.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I too attended that first Farm Aid concert in September, 1985... barely.

And I can't believe you doubted me! ;-)