This Wheel's On Fire
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"This Wheel's on Fire" is a song written by
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
and
Rick Danko Richard Clare Danko (December 29, 1943 – December 10, 1999) was a Canadian musician, bassist, songwriter, and singer, best known as a founding member of the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. During ...
. It was originally recorded by Dylan and the Band during their 1967 sessions, portions of which (including this song) comprised the 1975 album, '' The Basement Tapes''. The Band's own version appeared on their 1968 album, ''
Music from Big Pink ''Music from Big Pink'' is the debut studio album by the Band. Released in 1968, it employs a distinctive blend of country, rock, folk, classical, R&B, blues, and soul. The music was composed partly in " Big Pink", a house shared by bassist/s ...
''. Live versions by the Band appear on their 1972 live double album '' Rock of Ages'', as well as the more complete four-CD-DVD version of that concert, ''Live at the Academy of Music 1971'', and the 2002 Box Set of ''
The Last Waltz ''The Last Waltz'' was a concert by the Canadian-American rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. ''The Last Waltz'' was advertised as The Band's "farewell concert a ...
'' (the song did not make it into the movie or the original soundtrack album).


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." Danko continued to perform the song in concert during his solo career and recorded a new studio version, with
Garth Hudson Eric "Garth" Hudson (born August 2, 1937) is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist and occasional saxophonist for rock group the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He was a ...
on accordion, for his posthumously released 2000 album, '' Times Like These''. Hudson also recorded a new studio version, with
Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fur ...
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'' (re-released in 2012 as ''Chest Fever: A Canadian Tribute to The Band''). Levon Helm, who sang harmony with Danko on the Band's version and who used the title of the song for his memoir of his time with the Band, '' 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 passing at the ''
Love for Levon Love for Levon: Benefit To Save The Barn was a benefit concert held on October 3, 2012 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The concert was a tribute to the life of The Band's co-lead vocalist and drummer Levon Helm, who died of ...
'' 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. 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 Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...
Out of Doors on August 6, 2016. Dylan performed the song regularly during his live tours from 1996 through 2012.


Covers

In 1968, a version by
Julie Driscoll Julie Driscoll Tippetts (born 8 June 1947) is an English singer and actress. Career Driscoll is known for her 1960s versions of Bob Dylan and Rick Danko's "This Wheel's on Fire", and Donovan's " Season of the Witch", both with Brian Auger and ...
with Brian Auger and the Trinity became a hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 5 on the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, number 13 in Canada, and reaching number 106 on the U.S. Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. With its use of
distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signa ...
,
phasing A phaser is an electronic sound processor used to filter a signal, and it has a series of troughs in its frequency-attenutation graph. The position (in Hz) of the peaks and troughs are typically modulated by an internal low-frequency oscil ...
, the evocative imagery of the song's title and the group's flamboyant dress, this version is closely associated with the
psychedelic era The Psychedelic era was the time of social, musical and artistic change influenced by psychedelic drugs, occurring from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s. The era was defined by the proliferation of LSD and its following influence in the development of p ...
in British music. The arrangement featured prominent use of both Hammond organ and mellotron. Driscoll recorded the song again in the early 1990s with
Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series '' The Young Ones'' (1 ...
as the theme to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
comedy series ''
Absolutely Fabulous ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (also known as ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom based on the ''French and Saunders'' sketch, "Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The show was created and written by Saund ...
'', whose main characters are throwbacks to that era.
The Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...
released a recording of "This Wheel's on Fire" on their 1969 album, '' Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde'', and live versions of the song are also included on the Byrds' '' Live at the Fillmore - February 1969'' album and the expanded CD reissue of their '' (Untitled)'' album. In 1987, the song was covered by the British rock
band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...
Siouxsie and the Banshees for their all-covers album, ''
Through the Looking Glass ''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' (also known as ''Alice Through the Looking-Glass'' or simply ''Through the Looking-Glass'') is a novel published on 27 December 1871 (though indicated as 1872) by Lewis Carroll and the ...
''. 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 before recording it: they covered it because they liked Driscoll's version. Australian pop rock group
Flake Flake or Flakes may refer to: People * Floyd H. Flake (born 1945), A.M.E. minister, university administrator, former U.S. representative * Jeff Flake (born 1962), American politician * Christian "Flake" Lorenz, German musician and member of ...
had a top 20 hit on the ''
Go-Set ''Go-Set'' was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. NOTE: This PDF is 282 pages. Widely described as ...
'' National Top 60 with their rendition in July 1970, which remained in the charts for 22 weeks. Other artists who have released their own versions of the song include:
Hamilton Camp Hamilton Camp (Born Robin S. Camp, 30 October 1934 – 2 October 2005) was a London-born actor and singer, who relocated to the United States with his family when he was a young child. He became an American folk singer during he 1960s, and ev ...
, Phil Lesh,
Golden Earring Golden Earring (originally known as The Tornados) was a Dutch rock band, founded in 1961 in The Hague as The Golden Earrings. They achieved worldwide fame with their international hit songs "Radar Love" in 1973, which went to number one on t ...
, Elvis Costello,
the Hollies The Hollies are a British pop rock band, formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke and Graham Nash founded the band ...
,
Ian and Sylvia Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson, née Fricker. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975. ...
,
Les Fradkin Les Fradkin (born 1951) is an American MIDI guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He is best known for being a member of the original cast of the hit Broadway show ''Beatlemania''. In addition to playing MIDI guitar, ...
,
Leslie West Leslie West (born Leslie Abel Weinstein; October 22, 1945 – December 23, 2020) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Mountain. Life and career Early years: 1 ...
, Serena Ryder, Charlie Winston,
June Tabor June Tabor (born 31 December 1947 in Warwick, England) is an English folk singer known for her solo work and her earlier collaborations with Maddy Prior and with Oysterband. Early life June Tabor was born and grew up in Warwick, England. As ...
,
Guster Guster is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founding members Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel began practice sessions while attending Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and ...
, Marco Benevento and
Rat Scabies Christopher John Millar (born 30 July 1955), known by his stage name Rat Scabies, is a musician best known as the drummer for English punk rock band the Damned. Career Millar was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. He played drums with Tor ...
. Australian singer Kylie Minogue released a cover of the track as the official theme song for 2016's '' Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie''.


Personnel on The Band version

*
Rick Danko Richard Clare Danko (December 29, 1943 – December 10, 1999) was a Canadian musician, bassist, songwriter, and singer, best known as a founding member of the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. During ...
– lead vocal, bass guitar * Levon Helm – drums, backing vocal *
Garth Hudson Eric "Garth" Hudson (born August 2, 1937) is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist and occasional saxophonist for rock group the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He was a ...
– clavinet,
Lowrey organ The Lowrey organ is an electronic organ named for its developer, Frederick C. Lowrey (1871–1955), a Chicago-based industrialist and entrepreneur. Lowrey's first commercially successful full-sized electronic organ, the Model S Spinet or '' ...
, Rocksichord through a telegraph keyGarth Hudson's Diamond Jubilation
/ref> *
Richard Manuel Richard George Manuel (April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, best known as a pianist and one of three lead singers in The Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and ...
– piano, backing vocal * Robbie Robertson – electric guitar


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Lyrics from official Bob Dylan site
{{Authority control 1968 singles 1987 singles Bob Dylan songs Songs written by Bob Dylan The Band songs The Byrds songs Siouxsie and the Banshees songs Comedy television theme songs Song recordings produced by John Simon (record producer) Songs written by Rick Danko 1967 songs