This Wheel's on Fire

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This Wheel's On Fire
)
This article is about the Bob Dylan song. For the Levon Helm book, see
This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of The Band
.
"This Wheel's on Fire"
Song by Bob Dylan and the Band
from the album The Basement Tapes
ReleasedJune 26, 1975
Recorded1967
GenreRock
Length3:52
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)
  • Bob Dylan
  • Rick Danko
Producer(s)
  • Bob Dylan
  • The Band

"This Wheel's on Fire" is a song written by

Rock of Ages,[4] as well as the more complete four-CD-DVD version of that concert, Live at the Academy of Music 1971,[5] and the 2002 Box Set of The Last Waltz[6] (the song did not make it into the movie or the original soundtrack album[7]
).

Background

Danko recounted how the song was written: "We would come together every day and work and Dylan would come over. He gave me the typewritten lyrics to 'This Wheel's On Fire'. At that time I was teaching myself to play the piano.... Some music I had written on the piano the day before just seemed to fit with Dylan's lyrics. I worked on the phrasing and the melody. Then Dylan and I wrote the chorus together."[8]

Danko continued to perform the song in concert during his solo career and recorded a new studio version, with Garth Hudson on accordion, for his posthumously released 2000 album, Times Like These.[9] Hudson also recorded a new studio version, with Neil Young on lead vocal and the Sadies as back-up band, for his 2010 all-Canadian compilation, Garth Hudson Presents a Canadian Celebration of The Band[10] (re-released in 2012 as Chest Fever: A Canadian Tribute to The Band[11]).

This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of The Band, performed the song live with the Levon Helm Band (later known as the Midnight Ramble Band). The Levon Helm Band performed the song after his death at the Love for Levon benefit concert and tribute held on October 3, 2012, that version appearing on the 2013 CD-DVD set Love For Levon: A Benefit to Save the Barn.[12] The Midnight Ramble Band continued to perform the song during its live shows at least through 2016, opening with it at The Last Waltz 40th Anniversary Celebration at Lincoln Center Out of Doors on August 6, 2016.[13]

Dylan performed the song regularly during his live tours from 1996 through 2012.[14]

Personnel

Covers

"This Wheel's on Fire"
Through the Looking Glass
B-side
  • "Shooting Sun"
  • "Sleepwalking (On the High Wire)"
  • "She Cracked"
ReleasedJanuary 5, 1987
Recorded1986
GenreAlternative rock
Length5:17
Label
Songwriter(s)
  • Bob Dylan
  • Rick Danko
Producer(s)
Siouxsie and the Banshees singles chronology
"
Candyman
"
(1986) 		"This Wheel's on Fire"
(1987) 		"The Passenger"
(1987)
Music video
"This Wheel's on Fire" on
YouTube

In 1968, a version by

Adrian Edmondson as the theme to the BBC comedy series Absolutely Fabulous
, whose main characters are throwbacks to that era.

CD reissue of their (Untitled) album.[19][20][21]

In 1987, the song was

Through the Looking Glass. Released as the first single from that album, Siouxsie and the Banshees' version climbed to number 14 on the UK singles chart. The band did not know the song had been composed by Dylan and Danko before recording it: they covered it because they liked Driscoll's version.[22]

Australian pop rock group Flake had a top 20 hit on the Go-Set National Top 60 with their rendition in July 1970, which remained in the charts for 22 weeks.[23][24]

Other artists who have released their own versions of the song include:

Ian and Sylvia, Les Fradkin, Leslie West, Serena Ryder, Charlie Winston, June Tabor, Guster, Marco Benevento and Rat Scabies.[25] Australian singer Kylie Minogue released a cover of the track as the official theme song for 2016's Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
.

References

  1. ISBN 1-85480-044-2
    .
  2. Allmusic
    . Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  3. Allmusic
    . Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  4. Allmusic
    . Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  5. Allmusic
    . Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  6. Allmusic
    . Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  7. Allmusic
    . Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  8. ISBN 1-56282-836-3
    .
  9. Allmusic
    . Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  10. Allmusic
    . Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  11. Allmusic
    . Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  12. ^ "Love For Levon (2xBlu-Ray + 2xCD)". Amazon. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  13. ^ "The Last Waltz 40th Anniversary Celebration". setlist.fm. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  14. ^ "The Official Bob Dylan Site, "This Wheel's On Fire" Page". Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  15. ^ Adam Betley, Garth Hudson's Diamond Jubilation
  16. ISBN 0-7119-7670-8
    .
  17. YouTube
  18. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - September 23, 1968" (PDF).
  19. ISBN 0-9529540-1-X
    .
  20. ^ "Live At The Fillmore – February 1969 review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2010-01-21.
  21. ^ "Untitled/Unissued review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2010-01-21.
  22. ISBN 0-7119-7670-8
    .
  23. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original
    on 1 September 2004.
  24. ^ Nimmervoll, Ed (5 December 1970). "National Top 60". Go-Set. Waverley Press. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  25. Allmusic. Archived from the original
    on March 10, 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-21.

Further reading

External links
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