Duquesne Whistle

Last updated
"Duquesne Whistle"
DuquesneWhistlesinglecover.jpg
cover of the 7" US single
Single by Bob Dylan
from the album Tempest
B-side "Meet Me in the Morning"
ReleasedAugust 27, 2012
RecordedJanuary–March, 2012
Studio Groove Masters
Genre
Length5:43
Label Columbia Records
Songwriter(s)
  • Bob Dylan
  • Robert Hunter
Producer(s) Jack Frost (Bob Dylan)
Bob Dylan singles chronology
"Early Roman Kings"
(2012)		"Duquesne Whistle"
(2012)		"Wigwam"
(2013)
Tempest track listing
10 tracks
  1. "Duquesne Whistle"
  2. "Soon After Midnight"
  3. "Narrow Way"
  4. "Long and Wasted Years"
  5. "Pay in Blood"
  6. "Scarlet Town"
  7. "Early Roman Kings"
  8. "Tin Angel"
  9. "Tempest"
  10. "Roll on John"

"Duquesne Whistle" is a song written by Bob Dylan and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter that appears as the opening track on Dylan's 2012 studio album Tempest . It was first released as a digital single on August 27, 2012 [1] through Columbia Records then as a music video two days later. A limited edition "Record Store Day" 7" stereo single was released on November 23, 2012. [2] It was also anthologized on the 2014 reissue of The Essential Bob Dylan . [3] Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

Contents

Composition and recording

Duquesne Whistle has been described as a "chugging number", with several critics noting how the music resembles the sound of a locomotive and thus underscores the lyrics, which entwine train imagery, and the motif of a train whistle in particular, with an affectionate reminiscence of a woman. [4] In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon speculate that the lyrics may be a holdover from Dylan's previous album of original material, 2009's Together Through Life , where Dylan co-wrote all but one of the songs with Robert Hunter (whereas "Duquesne Whistle" is the only co-written song on Tempest). They also note that the song's "rhythm is played on steel guitar, doubled on electric and piano, and backed by an acoustic guitar", claiming that the arrangement "transports listeners to an earlier time" and calling the result "irresistible". [5] The song is performed in the key of E-flat major. [6]

Reception

Music journalist Simon Vozick-Levinson, writing in a 2020 Rolling Stone article where the song ranked 10th on a list of "The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century", commented on the playful ambiguity of the lyrics, noting that the central image of a train whistle could either sound like "the last trumpet of the apocalypse" or function as a "symbol of music's redemptive power". He also mentions the song's melodic similarity to "a 1930 tune ['Easy Day'] by New Orleans jazz great Jelly Roll Morton". [7] Ann Powers, writing for NPR, likewise noted the song's relationship to jazz, favorably comparing Dylan's vocal performance to that of Louis Armstrong, and considering the possibility that the song could be "a sly tribute to Earl 'Fatha' Hines, the jazz great whose stride piano would have fit perfectly in this arrangement, and who was born in Duquesne [Pennsylvania] in 1903". [8]

Spectrum Culture included the song on a list of "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the '10s and Beyond". In an article accompanying the list, critic Justin Cober-Lake praised the song for the paradoxical way it manages to seem both ancient and modern: "By 2012, Dylan was five proper albums into yet another renaissance, and his band by now sounded less like a throwback to a mythic past and more like the current sound of Dylan’s Americana. The mix of sound, train imagery, and allusion gives the track an edge of hyperreality; we aren’t really thinking about Dust Bowl transportation or old-time factory whistles, but we settle into our parallel ideas about history...It’s unclear but irrelevant whether Dylan faces love or apocalypse. It doesn’t matter why a 'time bomb in my heart' would be a good thing. The song piles up evocations not to invite understanding but to situate the listener. The opening few bars provide misdirection with both sound and tempo, yet they open Dylan’s world and provide just one more indication of where he’s going. Wherever this train track leads, it must be worth going". [9]

The Sydney Morning Herald named "Duquesne Whistle" one of the "Top five Bob Dylan songs" in a 2021 article, noting that the "jaunty choo-choo shuffle is equal parts joyride and rakish escape plan. 'You old rascal, I know exactly where you’re going / I’ll leave you there myself at the break of day'". [10]

NJArts critic Jay Lustig identified it as his favorite song on Tempest, calling it "a musically jaunty train song with some surprisingly jagged lyrics" and "a winner". [11]

Music video

Bob Dylan in a screen capture from the "Duquesne Whistle" music video DuquenseWhistleVideo.jpg
Bob Dylan in a screen capture from the "Duquesne Whistle" music video

Nash Edgerton directed a music video for the song, which debuted on the website of The Guardian on August 29, 2012, 12 days before the release of Tempest. The video intercuts footage of Dylan and a group of younger cohorts walking through downtown Los Angeles with a narrative involving a man's disastrous attempt to court a woman on the same city streets. The two storylines converge in a final scene where Dylan and his crew literally step over the man's badly beaten body on the sidewalk. The video provoked controversy because of its depiction of violence [12] [13] although some defended it on the grounds that it functions as a subversive parody of the romantic comedy genre. [14]

Chart performance

The song spent four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 60 on October 19, 2012. [15]

Live performances

Between 2013 and 2018, Dylan played the song 379 times on the Never Ending Tour. [16] The live debut took place at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida on June 26, 2013, and the last performance (to date) took place at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia on August 22, 2018. [17]

Cover versions

"Duquesne Whistle" was covered by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench on his 2014 debut solo album You Should Be So Lucky. [18]

The song is featured in Conor McPherson's musical play Girl from the North Country, which is scored entirely by Bob Dylan songs and had its premiere at the Old Vic in London in 2017. Jack Shalloo sings the song on the Original London Cast Recording album, also released in 2017. [19]

A video of the song performed by Girl from the North Country Broadway cast member Todd Almond at the Belasco Theatre, directed by Kimber Elayne Sprawl, was released on June 1, 2021, to coincide with an announcement of the play's resumption of live performances following the COVID-19 pandemic. [20] [21]

Related Research Articles

<i>World Gone Wrong</i> 1993 studio album by Bob Dylan

World Gone Wrong is the 29th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on October 26, 1993, by Columbia Records.

"Spirit on the Water" is a love ballad written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 2006 as the second track on his album Modern Times. The title is a reference to a passage in the Book of Genesis. It is notable for being the only song on Modern Times to feature a harmonica solo. As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Nettie Moore" is a folk love song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 2006 as the eighth track on his album Modern Times. As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Ain't Talkin" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, appearing as the tenth and final track on his 2006 album Modern Times. As with most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"High Water " is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as the seventh track on his 31st studio album "Love and Theft" in 2001 and anthologized on the compilation album Dylan in 2007. Like much of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the track himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thunder on the Mountain</span> 2006 song by Bob Dylan

"Thunder on the Mountain" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in 2006 as the first track on his album Modern Times. Like much of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Things Have Changed</span> Bob Dylan song

"Things Have Changed" is a song from the film Wonder Boys, written and performed by Bob Dylan and released as a single on May 1, 2000, that won both the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. It was also anthologized on the compilation albums The Essential Bob Dylan in 2000, The Best of Bob Dylan in 2005 and Dylan in 2007.

"Workingman's Blues #2" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as the sixth track on his 2006 album Modern Times. As with much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Summer Days" is an uptempo twelve-bar blues/rockabilly song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the third song on his 2001 album Love and Theft. It was anthologized on the compilation album The Best of Bob Dylan in 2005. Like most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beyond Here Lies Nothin'</span> 2009 song by Bob Dylan

"Beyond Here Lies Nothin' " is a song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and performed by Dylan as the opening track on his 2009 studio album Together Through Life. The title is a quote from the ancient Roman poet Ovid. The track was available as a free download on Dylan's official website from March 30 to March 31, 2009, and a photo montage set to the song premiered on Amazon on April 21. It has been anthologized on every reissue of The Essential Bob Dylan since 2010. Like much of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

<i>Christmas in the Heart</i> 2009 studio album by Bob Dylan

Christmas in the Heart is the 34th studio album and first Christmas album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on October 13, 2009, by Columbia Records. The album comprises a collection of hymns, carols, and popular Christmas songs. All Dylan's royalties from the sale of this album benefit the charities Feeding America in the USA, Crisis in the UK, and the World Food Programme in perpetuity.

"Señor " is a minor-key ballad written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and released as the sixth track of his 18th studio album Street-Legal (1978). The song was produced by Don DeVito and later anthologized on the Biograph box set in 1985. Street-Legal was remixed and remastered for a 1999 compact disc release, with a further 5.1 remix done for a Super Audio CD release in 2003. Both re-releases featured the song.

<i>Tempest</i> (Bob Dylan album) 2012 album by Bob Dylan

Tempest is the 35th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on September 10, 2012, by Columbia Records. The album was recorded at Jackson Browne's Groove Masters Studios in Santa Monica, California. Dylan wrote all of the songs himself with the exception of "Duquesne Whistle", which he co-wrote with longtime Grateful Dead associate Robert Hunter.

"Soon After Midnight" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the second track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Narrow Way" is a blues rock song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the third track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Long and Wasted Years" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan that appears as the fourth track on his 2012 studio album Tempest and was anthologized on the 2016 reissue of The Essential Bob Dylan. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Pay in Blood" is an uptempo rock song written and performed by Bob Dylan that appears as the fifth track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Roll On John" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the tenth and final track on his 2012 studio album Tempest. Like much of Dylan's 21st-century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"Lonesome Day Blues" is a twelve-bar blues song written and performed by Bob Dylan that appears as the fifth song on his 2001 album Love and Theft. Like most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

"It's All Good'" is a blues song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the 10th and final track on Dylan's 2009 studio album Together Through Life. Like much of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the song himself using the pseudonym Jack Frost.

References

  1. ↑ "Song Premiere: Bob Dylan, 'Duquesne Whistle'". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  2. ↑ "Singles All Formats International 2010-19". searchingforagem.com. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  3. ↑ The Essential Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic , retrieved 2021-06-03
  4. ↑ "New Music: Bob Dylan - "Duquesne Whistle"". Consequence of Sound. 2012-08-27. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  5. ↑ Margotin, Philippe; Jean-Michel Guesdon (2015). Bob Dylan : all the songs : the story behind every track (First ed.). New York. ISBN   978-1-57912-985-9. OCLC   869908038.
  6. ↑ Bob, Dylan (2015-09-28). "Duquesne Whistle". Musicnotes.com. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  7. ↑ Vozick-Levinson, Jon Dolan,Patrick Doyle,Andy Greene,Brian Hiatt,Angie Martoccio,Rob Sheffield,Hank Shteamer,Simon; Dolan, Jon; Doyle, Patrick; Greene, Andy; Hiatt, Brian; Martoccio, Angie; Sheffield, Rob; Shteamer, Hank; Vozick-Levinson, Simon (2020-06-18). "The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  8. ↑ "Song Premiere: Bob Dylan, 'Duquesne Whistle'". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  9. ↑ "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the '10s and Beyond". Spectrum Culture. 2021-02-19. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  10. ↑ Dwyer, Michael (2021-05-18). "Bob Dylan is turning 80 – but his best is yet to come". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  11. ↑ "Bob Dylan: Favorite songs from each album of the '10s and beyond (WITH VIDEOS)". NJArts.net. 2021-07-04. Retrieved 2021-07-16.
  12. ↑ "Watch Bob Dylan's Bloody, Tarantino-Ish 'Duquesne Whistle' Video". Spin. 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  13. ↑ "Watch: Bob Dylan's New Brutally Violent Clip For Duquesne Whistle". Music Feeds. 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  14. ↑ michaelgloversmith (2012-08-30). "Bob Dylan's Duquesne Whistle and the Return of Love Stalker". White City Cinema. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  15. ↑ "Bob Dylan". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  16. ↑ "Bob Dylan Tour Statistics | setlist.fm". www.setlist.fm. Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  17. ↑ "Setlists | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  18. ↑ "Benmont Tench to Release Debut Solo Album". www.bluenote.com. Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  19. ↑ "REVIEW: Girl from the North Country - Original London Cast". castalbu.ms. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  20. ↑ Browne, David (2021-06-01). "Bob Dylan Musical 'Girl From the North Country' Returns -- Watch 'Duquesne Whistle' Now". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
  21. ↑ Meyer, Dan (2021-06-01). "Watch Girl From the North Country Star Todd Almond Sing 'Duquesne Whistle'". Playbill. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.