Dylan Debuts His Cover of Ricky Nelson's "Garden Party"

 

I just saw Bob Dylan singing Ricky Nelson's "Garden Party" in San Diego (on May 15, 2025) a few hours ago on YouTube.  I posted a link to it on all my social media.  But I had to say more.  In no order of importance (because I think all of these points are important):

• Dylan's voice is outstanding.  I mean, his voice was already sounding better in his 2020 Rough and Ready LP (with a standout performance in his "Murder Most Foul" lament about the assassination of JFK), but his vocal in "Garden Party" has a real depth and subtlety, hitting some notes with a fluency almost approaching that of "Lay Lady Lay".
• This cover shows, again, how Dylan is a mentch.  He must have greatly appreciated (1) when Ricky Nelson did a fine cover of Dylan's "She Belongs to Me" and (2) probably even more so when Dylan heard his name in "Garden Party" ("Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes").   This was, after all, certainly more appealing than what John Lennon said about Dylan explicitly in "God", and a whole lot better than Lennon's put down of Dylan (without mentioning his name) in The Beatles' "I Dig A Pony" (it was no doubt no consolation that Lennon also put down The Rolling Stones in that great song as well).
• There's something very, I don't know, comforting, in reciprocal covers.  It shows, at least to me, that there's something fair and good about this cultural universe we all inhabit.  That's an important discovery, because the universe as we all know deals out all sorts of disappointments and betrayals (especially in show business, but more recently even more obvious in politics and its tentacles).

Dylan, when he broke through in the 1960s, was an absolute master of lyrics, at the zenith of that craft.  Cole Porter previously held that position, and Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison were often close seconds, but I've always thought that Dylan held and still holds that position alone.  It's good and gratifying to now see him make his mark in the increasingly important micro-genre of covers.

See also: Dylan's "Murder Most Foul": From Then to Now and Dylan's "Rough and Rowdy Ways": Well Worth the Wait and "A Complete Unknown": A Nearly Completely Superb Biopic, Slightly Alternate History

And here are Ricky Nelson's twin sons talking about Dylan's cover of their father's song (begins about 3 mins into the video):

See also It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles (chapter 8), where Ricky Nelson dies in 1996. ...