Last night I was listening to some obscure music from 1902--the Dinwiddie Colored Quartet, which specialized in black jubilee music and toured as part of a vaudeville revue. Suddenly, I hear something that sounds unmistakenly like Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Free," from his The Freewheeling Bob Dylan album. I listen again, and sure enough, Dylan borrowed the tune from the recording of "The Poor Mourner."
You can listen to both on
Spotify or Rdio.
A lot of rock 'n roll songs trace their roots from blues classics, including Statesboro Blues, Midnight Special, CC Rider, Whole Lotta Love, Rock Me Baby, Midnight Hour, Smokestack Lightning and more. But this one--from the Dinwiddie Colored Quartet in 1902--struck me as the most surprising.
