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Percy's Song

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Wikipedia article


"'Percy's Song'" is a song written by Bob Dylan. It was recording during the October 1963 sessions for Dylan's third album, 'The Times They Are A-Changin', but not included on it.

Folk star Joan Baez performed "Percy's Song" in the 1967 documentary film 'Dont Look Back','Bob Dylan: a descriptive, critical discography and filmography, 1961-1993', John Nogowski, McFarland, 1994 which made the song known to the general public. The British folk rock group Fairport Convention recorded "Percy's Song" on their third album, released in 1969, 'Unhalfbricking'. Then Arlo Guthrie recorded it for his 1970 album 'Washington County'; this version achieved some progressive rock radio airplay in the United States.

Dylan's recording was not officially released until 1985 when it appeared in the 'Biograph' box set. In the notes to that collection, Dylan credits Paul Clayton for the song's "beautiful melody line."Bob Dylan, quoted by in the note on "Percy's Song", liner notes to 'Biograph', Columbia Records, 1985.'Keys to the rain: the definitive Bob Dylan encyclopedia', Oliver Trager, Billboard Books, 2004, 'The formative Dylan: transmission and stylistic influences, 1961-1963', Todd Harvey, Scarecrow Press, 2001, Clayton had played "The Wind and the Rain" to him, a variant of "The Twa Sisters", Child ballad 10."If There's an Original Thought Out There, I Could Use It Right Now:

the Folk Roots of Bob Dylan", Matthew Zuckerman, 1997. [http://expectingrain.com/dok/div/influences.html], #14


Dylan wrote the song from the point of view of a narrating character. The song relates the story of a fatal car crash and a subsequent manslaughter conviction and 99-year sentence in Joliet Prison that is handed down to the driver (a friend of the first-person narrator). The narrator goes to ask the sentencing judge to commute his friend's sentence which he considers too harsh, but the sentence stands. The story of the hard-hearted judge is reminiscent of the Child ballad "Geordie".

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