The Waifs -Tangled Up In the Blue (heard live at the Edmonton folk fest)
There is none of the irony that settles through the Dylan original, none of the anger that strikes you and none of the bitterness. The only thing left is a handsome man and two beautiful woman.
He sings the narrative,one plays acoustic guitar and one plays harmonica. The sound is earnest and weary and inestimably sad. With Dylan, you know that the unease and the trapped feeling will leave and he will find another woman and another book of poems. Maybe its because they have been on the road for seven months, maybe because handsome doesn’t equal sexual charisma- Maybe its because its 26 hours to Sydney and then another four to home Maybe its none of those things- but the Waifs sound like they are never lucky in love, they lose their usual pop shimmer here and become so pained that you feel guilty for listening to it. This is a song about the road as much as its about Love.
This is where a Standard changes form and finds another place.
Maybe this is what keeps a Standard alive.