Link to Song: Girl from the North Country
Duet Version (with Johnny Cash): Girl from the North Country
What you should know about this song: Dylan composed this song in 1963 during his first trip to Italy (a great country for music inspiration, if you ask me). After recording it for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album that year, Dylan revisited the song six years later as a duet with Johnny Cash, who recorded it with him as the opening track on Dylan’s Nashville Skyline album. (Source: “Dylan: 100 Songs & Pictures” by Fine Communications).
“To me, the person who wrote the most moving lyrics was Bob Dylan, in the early days – ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’, ‘Girl From the North Country’…” – Paul Simon*
“[‘Girl From the North Country” has] got all of the elements of beautiful folk writing without being pretentious…Before he went electric and submitted himself to that relentless discipline of a rhythm section, there was a beautiful flow in Bob’s songs that you can only get with just a voice and a guitar. He can float across the bar here and there. He’s not restricted by anything; it’s a beautiful form of expression… He’s the most prolific writer: I think he’s written more songs than I’ve had hot dinners. So, Bob, just keep ’em coming! He’s an inspiration, really, to us all, beyond even the songwriting, because he’s always trying to go somewhere new. I love the man – I love that he rock and rolls, too!” – Keith Richards (from Rolling Stone Magazine, Issue 1131).
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