"The Mighty Quinn" (Quinn the Eskimo)," Manfred Mann
Twenty eighteen marks the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Manfred Mann's cover of Bob Dylan's "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo"), a song Dylan recorded in demo form during his 1967 convalescence in upstate New York after his motorcycle accident . Dylan likely got the idea for the title character from Anthony Quinn's role as an Eskimo in the 1960 movie The Savage Innocents. The song, about an Eskimo who brings joy, peace , and rest to all living things, was, Dylan said, meant to be "a simple nursery rhyme." (Dylan wouldn't put out his own version of "The Mighty Quinn [Quinn the Eskimo"] for another two years.)
Manfred Mann is both the name of a group and the name of that group's keyboardist. By 1968, the British band had gone through several personal changes, and at this point the lineup consisted of Mann himself, Beatles friend and artist Klaus Voorman on bass and flute, Tom McGuinness on guitar, Mike Hugg on drums (the only remaining member of the original Manfred Mann lineup apart from Mann) and Mike D'Abo on lead vocals. Their cover of Dylan's song reached number ten on the Billboard singles chart in America. It was their biggest American hit since their cover of the Gumdrops' "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" Billboard singles chart in 1964, which made them the fourh British band (after the Beatles, Peter and Gordon, and the Animals) to have a number-one hit in the U.S.
This clip is from fifty years ago this week, showing Manfred Mann presenting "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo") on the German pop show "Beat-Club." After all these years, it's still a great record. Enjoy. :-)
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