| "Gotta Serve Somebody" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Bob Dylan | ||||
| from the album Slow Train Coming | ||||
| B-side | "Trouble in Mind" | |||
| Released | August 20, 1979 | |||
| Recorded | May 1979 Muscle Shoals Sound Studios |
|||
| Genre | Rock, gospel | |||
| Length | 5:25 | |||
| Label | Columbia Records | |||
| Writer(s) | Bob Dylan | |||
| Producer | Jerry Wexler Barry Beckett |
|||
| Bob Dylan singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"Gotta Serve Somebody" is a song by Bob Dylan from his 1979 studio album Slow Train Coming. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male in 1980. The song was recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It stands as Dylan's last hit single, peaking at #24 on the Billboard Magazine Hot 100 singles chart. The b-side, "Trouble in Mind" was a Dylan original that did not appear on the album.
This song was featured in HBO's The Sopranos.
New wave band Devo covered this song in some concerts as their Christian rock alter-egos DOVE - The Band of Love. This cover was sung by Mark Mothersbaugh's alter-ego Booji Boy. The song was also performed by Mavis Staples for the 1996 Dylan blues-covers album Tangled Up in Blues. The song was also covered by Candyrat recording artist Nicholas Barron on his 2007 album As I Am. In 1999, Natalie Cole recorded a cover of the song for her Snowfall on the Sahara album, featuring a new verse Dylan had written especially for her. Willie Nelson included an 8:00 version of the song on his 2008 album Moment of Forever.
In response to "Gotta Serve Somebody", John Lennon wrote and recorded the song "Serve Yourself," which was a parody that mocked the injection of religion into Dylan's songwriting.[1] In his diary, Lennon said of Dylan's song, "The backing was mediocre by Jerry Wexler, the singing was really pathetic, and the words were just embarrassing."[2]
The Brazilian singer Vitor Ramil, in the album Tambong, recorded a version for this song, called: "Um dia você vai servir alguém".
Bill Perry recorded a version of this song for his album Raw Deal.
Axelle Red recorded a version for her 2009 album Sisters & Empathy.
Other versions include ones by Etta James, Aaron Neville, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Shirley Caesar, Ben Sidran, David Allan Coe, Patti Austin, Tommy Castro Band, and Nichole Nordeman.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||