(c)1968 Words & Music Bob Dylan
Copyright music and lyrics reproduced by kind permission of Special Rider -- for original, exclusive performances by Bob Dylan, check-out the official channel at www.youtube.com/bobdylan."
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#Come all without, come all within, u´ll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within, u´ll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn
Everybody´s building the big ships and the boats
Some are building monuments, others are jotting down notes
Everybody´s in despair, every girl and boy
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here ev´rybody´s gonna jump for joy#
Now I like to go just like the rest, I like my sugar sweet
But jumping queues and makin´ haste, just ain´t my cup of meat
Everyone´s beneath the trees, feedin´ pigeons on a limb
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here all the pigeons gonna run to him#
Let me do what I wanna do, I can´t decide ´em all
Just tell me where it hurts and I´ll tell you who to call
Nobody can get any sleep there´s someone on everyone´s toes
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here, everybody´s gonna wanna doze#
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gitter tuned UP 3 steps, dropped D, harmonica key of G
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Dylan released his version in 1970 on his album Self Portrait. It also appears on his 1972 album More Greatest Hits. Ron Cornelius was Dylan's guitarist for the Self Portrait sessions, and told us about the experience: "There's everybody and his brother flying into Nashville to play on that thing. If you look at the credits, it's amazing how many people were delighted to come and play on it. Out of everybody I've worked with, I don't know of anyone who's been any nicer than Bob Dylan."
It is possible that Dylan came up with the idea for this after seeing the 1959 Nicholas Ray movie called The Savage Innocents. In that movie, Anthony Quinn played an Eskimo named Inuk. The film is also notable as the first screen appearance of Peter O'Toole, who demanded that his name be removed from the film as all of his dialog was dubbed by another actor.
The Grateful Dead occasionally played this at their shows. Here's one story that circulated about the song: The Grateful Dead years ago had a wild LSD party in a New York City hotel during a tour visit. Allegedly, one of the party guests was Bob Dylan. One of the other guests at the hotel didn't appreciate the noise and voiced several complaints. It was actor Anthony Quinn who'd played an Eskimo in The Savage Innocents. That could have inspired a partying Dylan to write a strange and funny song like this.
One theory is that "The Mighty Quinn" is Sheriff Larry Quinlan, who raided the Castillia Foundation land in Millbrook, New York and arrested Dr. Timothy Leary and his group of hippies. Quinlan confiscated all the LSD and other drugs at the scene. In this scenario, the "pigeons" are informers.
Mike D'Abo of Manfred Mann: "We met in a publisher's house as Bob Dylan was making some new material available to other artists. We heard about 10 songs and I thought 'This Wheel's On Fire' would be the one to do, but Manfred liked The Mighty Quinn, which was called 'Quinn The Eskimo' then. It was sung in a rambling monotone but Manfred had recognized its potential. He sold me on the idea of doing this song, but I had to make up some of the words as I couldn't make out everything he was saying. It was like learning a song phonetically in a foreign language. I have never had the first idea what the song is about except that it seems to be 'Hey, gang, gather round, something exciting is going to happen 'cause the big man's coming.' As to who the big man is and why he is an Eskimo, I don't know."
My humble theory: think Eskimo=snow and Mighty Quinn=mighty queen. With this in mind you can read:
Everybody's in despair, every girl and boy
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here, everybody's gonna jump for joy
Song is great anyway. I like BD version the most.
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Bob Dylan Quinn the Eskimoby bartlebyfred11,733 views
Bloody great version - best cover of this track on Youtube!
MrClarencefern 1 month ago
Did they chop of your head?
BornOutOfAGuitar 5 months ago
would of liked some harmony. But not bad !!!
Sarahdiaz97 6 months ago
Wow! Really great! I haven't heard this song in a long time... Your version is amazing!
Northshore45 10 months ago
very cool!
psychospeakempire 10 months ago
Great, dude!
kajwilhelm 10 months ago
You're amazing Wg.
Sunambra 10 months ago
excellent cover buddy!!keep up the great job!
MrKennyMiles 10 months ago
Nobody can get any sleep there´s someone on everyone´s toes, haha
3Firesiders 10 months ago
WOOT! Love it! That was just downright fun! =D
Gingerjake2 10 months ago