Four Girls

Bob Dylan - Girl From The North Country [mp3]

I've got a couple versions of Dylan (and Dylan & friends) doing this one, but it's this beautifully measured and simply picked original, from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, that remains the most affecting.

M. Ward, Conor Oberst and Jim James - Girl From The North Country [mp3]

This, a typically ramshackle live number, feels good (and probably felt even better if you were there). But the collaboration, of course, recalls the Dylan/Cash version from Nashville Skyline, which I don't like nearly as much. It's not as stately or clean and clear as the solo Dylan take, so while it works well as a buddy-buddy-buddy set closer, something's inherently lost in translation.

Mojave 3 - Girl From The North Country [mp3]

Secret Machines - Girl From The North Country [mp3]

These two sound, unsurprisingly, like a Mojave 3 song and a Secret Machines song, respectively. But while Halstead & co. bore it up some, turning the original to air and smoke rising (slowly) and dissipating, the Machines fare better by taking the epic (nine minute!) route. Like their best, the song evolves from a swirling, panned nascence to a momentous, heavy and gorgeous statement. I wonder if Dylan would like this (probably not). Freakin' cosmic.

Buy the original here, the Mojave 3 version here and the Secret Machines version here.

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Also, hooray for Page France's Daytrotter session!