© REUTERS/Brad Rickerby

© AP Photo/Stephen Chernin

Tracy Chapman, Patti Smith To Salute Bob Dylan

Event sponsored by The New Yorker will explore singer's cultural significance
over past four decades.

Rob Kemp, Sonicnet.com
Mon., April 2, 5:46 PM EDT

NEW YORK — Last weekend he received an Academy Award, his first, for the song "Things Have Changed,"and now another longtime bastion of high culture, The New Yorker magazine, is set to honor Bob Dylan
at Town Hall on May 19.

At the event, titled "The Work of Bob Dylan," a passel of singer/songwriters and writers will explore Dylan's cultural significance over the past 40 years, a spokesperson for the
organizers said.

The lineup will include folk-rocker Tracy Chapman, onetime Dylan sideman and
Counting Crows producer T-Bone Burnett, new-wave rocker Graham Parker, and the Esquires, a trio that comprises neo-dustbowl songstress Gillian Welch, guitarist David Rawlings and drummer David Steele.

Of particular note is the appearance of punk-rock priestess Patti Smith and her
onetime paramour playwright Sam Shepard. All of the above will perform as-yet-undetermined Dylan songs; Shepherd will be collaborating with Burnett for the performance of one tune.

Poet Ann Waldman, who appeared in "Renaldo & Clara," the bizarre 1978 film
depicting Dylan's 1976 Rolling Thunder Revue, will appear as well. Additionally, novelists Rick Moody, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Boston University professor and author Christopher Ricks will likely read Dylan's
lyrics as spoken verse. New Yorker editor David Remnick will moderate the event.

Dylan, who will turn 60 on May 24, has been notified of the event, but organizers have not heard back from his representatives as to whether he will attend. Calls to Dylan's
spokespeople were not returned by press time. He did show up for 1992's massive concert at Madison Square Garden celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of his first album, 1962's Bob Dylan.

"The Work of Bob Dylan" will benefit PEN, an international fellowship of writers, poets, editors and playwrights, and is part of the second annual The New Yorker Festival. Other events include a party hosted by "High Fidelity" scribe Nick Hornby on the same evening, followed the next day by a pair of
talks with Chuck D., at the Director's Guild Theatre, and Rickie Lee Jones, at the midtown Manhattan club Float.

New Yorker Fete Celebrates Dylan, ©internetwire.com

Musician, Poet Honored On His 60th Birthday At Gala Tribute During 3-Day Festival For The New Yorker

NEW YORK, NY -- (INTERNET WIRE) -- 05/21/2001 -- **VIDEO AVAILABLE** Few have had as much influence over the course of contemporary music as Bob Dylan. As part of The New Yorker festival, Bob Dylan will be honored at a gathering of musicians, artists, poets and writers on Saturday night, May 19 – three days before Dylan’s 60th birthday.

Singer-songwriters Tracy Chapman, Rickie Lee Jones, Graham Parker and Patti Smith will be in attendance, as will authors Bobbie Ann Mason, Rick Moody, Martin Amis and Dylanologist Christopher Ricks, among others. Hosting the event at Manhattan’s famed Town Hall will be New Yorker editor David Remnick.

The New Yorker festival has featured more than 50 readings, interviews, performances, panel discussions, and brunches –each one designed to introduce New Yorker readers to the writers, editors, cartoonists, poets and artists they have already met reading the magazine.

Saturday evening’s tribute to Dylan is being held to benefit PEN, the international writer’s group. PEN offers programs, services and human-rights campaigns on behalf of writers who have been censored or imprisoned because of their work. The gala caps two separate weekends of events in celebration of the magazine’s 75th anniversary.

Tracy Chapman sings "Gotta Serve Somebody" (Bob Dylan) at a benefit birthday tribute to Bob Dylan in New York on May 19, 2001. The proceeds from benefit will go to the PEN American Center, a group of 2,600 poets, playwrites, editors, essayists, translators and novelists whose mission is to advance the cause of literature and reading.


Video extract from
Tracy Chapman, Gotta Serve Somebody
[powered by ilnuevo.it]

Gotta Serve Somebody
© Bob Dylan, 1979

You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,
You may be the head of some big TV network,
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,
You may be living in another country under another name

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a construction worker working on a home,
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,
You might own guns and you might even own tanks,
You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy,
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy,
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray,
You may call me anything but no matter what you say

You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Copyright © 1979 Special Rider Music