Buried Treasure: Bob Dylan And Dave Van Ronk Go Riding In A Car

Updated:

March 3, 2015 12:46 pm

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According to my folk-singing mother, my favorite record in nursery school was a collection of children’s songs by Woody Guthrie, which I would demand to hear over and over. As a teenager I graduated to Dave Van Ronk’s No Dirty Names, and a handful of classic records by Bob Dylan (who sounded nothing like the wheezy, weird-singing guy I knew from “We Are The World,” my only previous reference point.)

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What a delight to hear all those childhood influences combined in this YouTube video, which the Dylan fansite Expecting Rain dug up today. Dylan and one of his early mentors, Dave Van Ronk, “duet” on Guthrie’s kids song “Riding In My Car” during a 1961 performance at The Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village.

That is, Dylan takes the lead vocal, and Van Ronk helps out with the engine noises. Enjoy.