In 1976 the great Bob Dylan released his seventeenth studio album, the well known Desire.
The album reached the no 1 of the US Billboard charts and became one of Dylan´s best selling ones.
Although the most popular track of the album was ¨Hurricane¨, written for the boxer Rubin Carter, who “could a been the champion of the world” if not unfairly convicted just because he was black, another very famous song is ¨One more cup of coffee¨ written for an disloyal girl whose father was an outlaw.
Well, almost everybody has listened to the original version performed by Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris.
But do you know that many famous artists have made very interesting covers to this song?
Let´s take a look at some of them, starting from the unique Eric Burdon.
Burdon, one of greatest singers ever, gave the song a personal ¨bluesy¨ scent, very characteristic of his after Animals years. The keyboards, present in most of Burdon songs, are the front instrument at this magnificent cover, released the same year as the original version.
Another great singer, Robert Plant, covered the song in his album ¨Dreamland¨, giving it an even more oriental and atmospheric tone than the original version, which is written in natural minor scale, something common in Middle Eastern melodies.
In 1999 the White Stripes, covered the song at their first studio album, in a way that it could be part of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. It was obvious that Jack White´s future would be brilliant.
I love Calexico, their Tex Mex sound with the wind instruments is so original, so pure, so characteristic. In 2007, the band from Arizona took part at the soundtrack of ¨I´m not there¨, a biographical film inspired by the life and music of Bob Dylan.
At this soundtrack Calexico performed One more cup of coffee along with Roger Mc Guinn, the legendary singer of the Byrds, the famous American 60´s band.
Not many people know Frazey Ford, an astonishing Canadian actress, guitarist and singer. Frazey has a unique voice and a very personal performing style and offered us an esoteric and respectful to the original version cover of One more cup of coffee.
But the biggest surprise for me, which gave me the incentive to write this post, was the very recent (March 2021) cover of the song by Tom Jones.
Nobody can claim that Sir Tom Jones does not have a fantastic voice. Also nobody can support that the famous British singer has had the career he deserved. It is a pity that a performer like Tom Jones passed his life in the casinos of Las Vegas, entertaining the bumpkin Americans and other upstart tourists.
Which cup of coffee do you prefer?
