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Pete on "North Country Girl"



And as if right on cue (with the discussion on Odds & Sods), here's Pete
today on "North Country Girl" vs. "Girl From The North Country":

        -Brian in Atlanta

Dylan's song was very closely based on an English folk song my wife
Karen said she used to sing at school. I have always loved it, partly
because she always loved it. Roy Harper did a copy of it (with strings)
on his album VALENTINE (around 70-something). He took credit for it as
follows, 'Traditional: arr by Roy Harper'. When I rearranged the song as
NORTH COUNRTY GIRL on CHINESE EYES I did the same. Bob - through his son
Jesse - told me he thought I'd really stolen his VERSION of the song,
not his song. That is because unlike Roy Harper and my wife, I'd never
heard any version of the song other than by Bob Dylan. So in fact, I
should credit Bob, and in future will do so. I think on the recent
Chicago CD (which is really a copy of Roy Harper's version) they
probably credited me because that was the credit on CHINESE EYES (which
Bob himself said I could keep rather than fight about it in public).

I hope that helps. Bob Dylan once told me a folk singer is simply a man
with a good memory. Now what that means is that a man must remember
other people's songs. A lot of the stuff in Bob's head was 'found', it
existed before he made it his own. With NORTH COUNTRY GIRL I simply
extended the process. It was probably a little insincere. Why? Because
unlike Bob Dylan I am not a folk singer.

Pete