Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)
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| “Mighty Quinn” | |||||
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| Single by Manfred Mann from the album Mighty Garvey! (UK) The Mighty Quinn (US) |
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| B-side | "By Request - Edwin Garvey" | ||||
| Released | 12 January, 1968 (UK) 8 February, 1968 (USA) |
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| Format | 7" 45 RPM | ||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||
| Length | 2:51 | ||||
| Label | Fontana TF 897 (UK)
Mercury 72770 (US) |
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| Writer(s) | Bob Dylan | ||||
| Manfred Mann singles chronology | |||||
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"Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)" is a 1967 folk-rock song written and first recorded by Bob Dylan during The Basement Tapes sessions.
Lyrically, the song is a tale with vaguely psychedelic lyrics. The subject of the song is the arrival of the mighty Quinn (an eskimo), who changes despair into joy and chaos into rest, and attracts attention from the animals. The metaphorical lyrics have prompted suggestions that Quinn is God, a drug dealer, or simply a village elder. Dylan himself has said that the title character refers to actor Anthony Quinn's role as an Eskimo in the 1959 movie The Savage Innocents. Dylan has also been quoted as saying that the song was nothing more than a "simple nursery rhyme".
More recently, Dylan in his autobiography Chronicles Volume One (published 2004), makes further reference to the song: "On the way back to the house I passed the local movie theater on Prytania Street, where The Mighty Quinn was showing. Years earlier I had written a song called "The Mighty Quinn" which was a hit in England, and I wondered what the movie was about. Eventually I'd sneak off and go there to see it. It was a mystery, suspense, Jamaican thriller with Denzel Washington as the Mighty Xavier Quinn a detective who solves crimes. Funny, that's just the way I imagined him when I wrote the song The Mighty Quinn."[1]
Initially unreleased by Dylan, it was picked up and recorded by the British band Manfred Mann, who released their version under the title "Mighty Quinn." The Manfred Mann version reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart for the week of February 14, 1968, and remained there for the following week.[2] It also charted on the American billboard chart, peaking at #10, and #4 in "Cash Box".
The first time Bob Dylan himself released his own version of the song was when a live version from the Isle of Wight Festival of the song was included on his Self Portrait album in 1970. Although the album as a whole was poorly received, Dylan's version of "Quinn the Eskimo" is often included in Bob Dylan compilations.
Since "Quinn the Eskimo" was recorded in 1967 during the Basement Tapes Sessions, it was included on several bootlegs of those sessions during the early 70s.
A later incarnation of Manfred Mann, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, included a dramatically different live version of the song on their 1978 album Watch. Gary Puckett & The Union Gap also recorded this song in 1968. The Brothers and the Sisters recorded a gospel version. A live version by the Grateful Dead was released in 2000 on Dick's Picks, Volume 17, from a 1991 performance in Boston. Another live version by Phish was released in 1999 on Hampton Comes Alive, which was recorded on November 20 & 21, 1998 in Hampton, Virginia. Listen to their version below.
A much heavier version of the song was recorded by Swiss rockers Gotthard. This version was entitled simply "The Mighty Quinn." The Hollies released a version in 1969 on the album titled "The Hollies Sing Dylan" (known outside of the UK as "Words and Music by Bob Dylan"). The song title is listed as "Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)". Mexico's Los Chijuas recorded a Spanish language version as "El Esquimal" in the late 1960's.
Spanish pop group Nena Daconte in January 2007 revealed that they are to internationally release their version of the song on the re-release of their debut album He Perdido Los Zapatos. Their version is also currently the Codorniu Theme Song.
| Preceded by "Everlasting Love" by Love Affair |
UK number one single February 14, 1968 (Manfred Mann version, 2 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Cinderella Rockefella" by Esther & Abi Ofarim |
[edit] Notes & Influence
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- Leon Russell, "The Master of Space and Time," also recorded "The Mighty Quinn," LIVE, in 1970.
- In 1989, Denzel Washington starred in a movie called "The Mighty Quinn", about a character named Xavier Quinn who must exonerate his friend Moubee from murder charges. The Self Portrait version appears extensively throughout the film.
- In the comic book series G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero, published by Marvel Comics, a mercenary named Kwinn the Eskimo first appears in #2 and returns periodically before dying in #19.
- Quinn the Eskimo is the name of a minor character in the Wild Cards novel series.
- In Episode #804 of Mystery Science Theater 3000, featuring The Deadly Mantis, a village of Inuit is depicted observing the arrival of the titular giant praying mantis, and Crow T. Robot declares on their behalf, "It's the Mighty Quinn!"
- Quinn the Eskimo is the name of an Army Surplus store in Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
- Bob Dylan having released the live recording of the song in 1970, never played it live again until 2002
[edit] References
- ^ Dylan, Bob. Chronicles Volume One:Simon & Schuster 2004. p187 ISBN 0-7432-3076-0
- ^ Manfred Mann No.1 in the UK on 14 February 1968 with "Mighty Quinn" for 2 weeks http://www.theofficialcharts.com/all_the_no1_songs.php?show=2 /Retrieved 01/09/07
[edit] External links
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