American singer-songwriter Phosphorescent‘s latest musical endeavor is The Full Moon Project, where he releases a new cover once a full moon. For his third entry (we covered the first one here), he’s tackling Bob Dylan‘s “Like a Rolling Stone.”
A lot of interpretations stick pretty closely to the original style of the song, only varying the degree of vocal spite. But Phosphorescent takes a different approach, one that could be described as “mournful.” It’s as if, instead of being angry at the woman/women who are the subject, Phosphorescent is just sad about how things went. It’s a different approach.
The cover was apparently recorded in one take, with just Phosphorescent on electric piano and a friend on a very subtle (often inaudible) electric guitar. This is perhaps the most elegiac I’ve ever heard “Like a Rolling Stone.”
I’m a big fan of Phosphorescent and a big fan of Like A Rolling Stone. I’ll admit that I was worried that this combination might not work. What do I know?! It’s just superb. And the piano is so simple yet so effective. Melancholic and lovely.