On the penultimate show of his 33 years in late night, David Letterman was treated to a new song by America’s greatest living musician, as Bob Dylan sent off Letterman to The Night We Called It A Day, a standard off his recent Frank Sinatra-inspired album, Shadows In The Night. Dylan’s rendition was haunting and beautiful, sung in a world-weary voice of a man who’s finally given up the chase. His vocal abilities proved incorrect those terrible, 50-year-old jokes about Dylan not being able to carry a tune — Bob can sing when he wants to.
His legendary surliness, however, was on full display. Dylan scowled as Letterman came over at the end of the performance, then turned his back on the host as the second-to-last show in Letterman history went to credits. To put in a sports parlance, that’s just Bob being Bob.
(AP)
It was the first time Dylan has ever played the song live and, not to toot our own horn, but its playing was predicted in FTW’s essential Top 10 ways David Letterman will end his historic late-night run, which you should read as a primer for Dave’s final show on Wednesday night.
Dylan made his first appearance on Letterman in 1984, which was considered a coup for the up-and-coming Late Show (and features a great story to boot). He played a three-song set, two of which were off his 1983 album Infidels (an album that still holds up well, with Jokerman serving as the highlight). Eight years later, Dylan performed his biggest hit, Like A Rolling Stone at Letterman’s 10th anniversary special. Then, in Letterman’s first year on CBS, Dylan made his third and, up until Tuesday, final appearance on Letterman, playing the 20-year-old Forever Young.
Here are clips from each performance, as well as the video for The Night We Called It A Day, which debuted in March.
