The Mighty Quinn (Quinn, the Eskimo) 1969 – Bob Dylan

Dylan’s live rendition of The Mighty Quinn (Quinn, the Eskimo) was released on Self Portrait and later Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II which was where I first heard it. I always dug it’s upbeat tempo and playful lyrics. It’s so fresh and spirited. It showcases Dylan’s ability to reinterpret his own work in a way that feels both authentic and engaging. The Mighty Quinn (Quinn, the Eskimo) is yet another Dylan penned song where the cover artist – in this case the British band Manfred Mann made into a huge hit. It was originally written during the Basement Tapes sessions in 1967, but the song’s first release was in January 1968 by Manfred Mann becoming a chart-topping hit in the UK.

One fascinating detail about this song is its connection to actor Anthony Quinn, who played an Eskimo in the 1960 film The Savage Innocents (image inset). Dylan reportedly drew inspiration from this character when crafting the song.

The version you hear below was recorded live at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1969. The Band was backing Dylan during his performance and I think its Rick Danko who can be heard contributing wonderful back-up vocals which add so much punch to the song. Four performances from this concert including today’s featured song were included on Dylan’s album Self Portrait (1970). The others were Like a Rolling Stone, Minstrel Boy and She Belongs to Me. Thanks to rumours that one or all of the Beatles would be joining him on stage, Dylan’s comeback show had become, in the words of music journalist John Harris, “inflated into the gig of the decade“. On 31 August, Dylan arrived on stage in a cream suit recalling Hank Williams.

Isle of Wight Festival (From Wikipedia article)

The 1969 Isle of Wight Festival was held on 29–31 August 1969 at Wootton Creek, on the Isle of Wight, England. The festival attracted an audience of approximately 150,000 to see acts including Bob Dylan, the Band, the Who, Free, Joe Cocker, the Bonzo Dog Band and the Moody Blues.

The 1969 festival was considerably larger and more popular than the previous year’s. Dylan had been little heard of since his allegedly near-fatal motorcycle accident in July 1966. Shunning the Woodstock Festival, held near his home in upstate New York, Dylan was initially reluctant to perform his comeback show on the little-known Isle of Wight. After weeks of negotiations, the Foulk brothers showed him a short film of the island’s cultural and literary heritage; this appealed to Dylan’s artistic sensibilities, as he was enthusiastic about combining a family holiday with a live performance in Tennyson country. The family was scheduled to travel to Britain on the Queen Elizabeth 2 and nearly missed the gig because Dylan’s son Jesse had been hit by a ship cabin door and needed to be hospitalised. Dylan travelled to the site by plane at the last minute.

Before the festival, Dylan and his fellow Woodstock residents, the Band, rehearsed at Forelands Farm in Bembridge, and were joined there by George Harrison, the only “outsider” to have visited him in his enclave in the Catskill Mountains. On Saturday, 30 August, the day before Dylan was to take the stage, Harrison’s fellow Beatles John Lennon and Ringo Starr arrived on the island, along with Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Elton John. Also seated in the sealed-off VIP area in front of the stage would be Beatle wives Pattie Harrison, Yoko Ono and Maureen Starkey.

[Verse 1]
Everybody’s building the big ships and the boats
Some are building monuments
Others, jotting down notes
Ev’rybody’s in despair
Every girl and boy
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here
Ev’rybody’s gonna jump for joy
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn

[Verse 2]
I like to do just like the rest, I like my sugar sweet
But guarding fumes and making haste
It ain’t my cup of meat
Everybody’s neath the trees
Feeding pigeons on a limb
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here
All the pigeons gonna run to him
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn

[Verse 3]
A cat’s meow and a cow’s moo, I can recite them all
Just tell me where it hurts yuh, honey
And I’ll tell you who to call
Nobody can get no sleep
There’s someone on ev’ryone’s toes
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here
Ev’rybody’s gonna wanna doze
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn

References:
1. Quinn the Eskimo (Mighty Quinn) – Wikipedia
2. Isle of Wight Festival 1969 – Wikipedia