Rebecca Black vs Bob Dylan and Sixties Nostalgia.

A young girl called Rebecca Black has recently become an YouTube sensation. This will not be news to most of you. Young Miss Black had a song written for her called "Friday", had a video made and has to date had 105,595,136 views on YouTube. Anyone who has heard the song will know it has a deep lyrical message the likes of which hasn't been seen since the great songwriters of the sixties. Some choice lines include: 

"Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after...wards
I don’t want this weekend to end"

"Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’)
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today"


"Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?"

Poetry.

Now, it is sincerely an awful song but as catchy as the clap. But the real magic of this YouTube sensation is the many responses that have been made by other people. The best of these is a version of the song that is supposed to be a lost Bob Dylan recording from the sixties. Whoever did the voice does an entertaining take on Dylans distinct vocals, but the highlight is the comments underneath.

Here are some of my favourites:

"Then one day - it was the last Friday of the summer - we were sitting there, Jessie and me, singing these words. I was just starting on the line "my friend is by my right", when I realized that there she was, by my right. I turned, our eyes met, and in that instant, we knew we were more than just friends. We kissed for the first time. On Monday morning, I looked for her in school, but she wasn't there. Later that day, her mom told me she'd been mauled to death by a pack of raccoons. Memories."

"A dreary afternoon in ’73, worst part of my life. On the verge of a serial murder spree, in a seedy bar on 42nd St., I’d lost faith in God, humanity, myself. This song played, but I ignored it. A few beers later, night fell and I went out to stalk my 1st victim. Suddenly Dylan's words popped back in my head. It was almost Friday. Wasn’t that something to look forward to? I approached the girl, but instead of stabbing her, I asked her name. Today I'm proud to call that girl my wife."


"Little known fact: Dylan plays at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Dylan's appearance was sandwiched between Cousin Emmy and the Sea Island singers, two very traditional folk acts. Dylan surprises the crowd by playing electric. Many in the crowd begin to boo. After playing "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Maggie's Farm," Dylan turns to his band members and says "Let's play Friday. Play it loud." However, as the band starts up, Pete Seeger pulls the cord. Dylan never performed "Friday" live."

"The driver of the car that JFK was assassinated in, had the name Samuel Kickin (kickin in the front seat, sitting in the back seat...) The assassination occurred on a Friday and when was shot the Secret Service yelled at Jackie Kennedy to "get down" (got to get down on Friday). part about the cold war and spread of communism are also referenced [everybody rushin' (russian)] and to top it all off, in the hotel that morning JFK declined a breakfast of sausage, eggs and toast for a bowl of Bran Flakes instead (got to have my bowl, got to have my cereal) Also, the following Monday JFK was supposed to sign a bill into law requiring all public schools to provide bus transportation for their students. (got to catch my bus...)"

"It's just uncanny -- I haven't heard this song since my tour of duty, back in '68. I was on the last chopper out of Hue City. I tell yeah, it was the strangest thing; there wasn't enough room on the heli to evac everyone. I had to leave some of my best men behind. I can still hear them asking me, "Front seat, back seat... which seat can I take, sarge?"
I didn't have the heart to tell them, they couldn't take either seat."

Someone has also listed Friday as a lost Bob Dylan basement tape on Wikipedia. Hilarious. So here is the original.

And here is the Bob Dylan version.