Pullin’ ‘Tubes: Hey, Mama Rock Me
The 1973 Western Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid isn’t exactly a memorable movie, but one fantastic tune came out of the ashes of the flick. Bob Dylan scored the film and came up with a number of songs for the soundtrack. One tune that didn’t make the soundtrack was a joyous ditty named Rock Me Mama. Rock Me Mama was included on a number of Dylan bootlegs, yet was never officially released.
In the early ’00s, Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show took Dylan’s original chorus and wrote gorgeous verses around them. The result of Secor’s efforts, Wagon Wheel, became extremely popular and has been covered by a slew of artists including Steven Kellogg, Little Feat and Soul Farm. Here’s Old Crow Medicine Show’s gripping video for Wagon Wheel…
Further Viewing:
Scott Bernstein
Scott Bernstein co-founded Hidden Track in October 2006 and was managing editor until taking over as EiC in January 2008. Scotty also writes for Relix Magazine and curates YEMblog.com.
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So funny that you posted this today. About three weeks ago I went to a live show by this singer songwriter named Justin Jude in Portland, Oregon at the Alberta Street Pub. Had never heard him before and in the middle of the show they play this song, Wagon Wheel, that I thought was great and they give a shout out to Old Crow Medicine Show. In the middle, they say they have found that the song is quite a “campaign” song as well and change the chorus to “Barack Obama like a wagon wheel”, etc… which doesn’t make much sense but works perfectly lyrically. It was fun. Then, yesterday I seek out the O.C.M.S. version of the song from emusic, download it, listen to it a bunch of times and watch a video for it from ACL. Now, today you post about. I love Hidden Track!
Thanks, Manatee. Saw Soul Farm play this tune on Monday and I fell in love with it.
Love this song too. Probably tied for favorite song on OCMS with Take Em Away.