'I Shall Be Released' for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

AI enhanced and upscaled video of the 1986 performance of I Shall Be Released, colour corrected with newly mixed and remastered audio.

On the 20th of January 1986 Bob Dylan performed at an all star gathering honouring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center. Playing behind him and the Queens of Rhythm were Stevie Wonder’s backing band, the coolest, slickest, funkiest and soulful band that he could’ve wished for. They played a driving, soulful R&B version of ‘I Shall be Released’ infused with elements of Dylan and The Band’s own Basement Tapes version but with that added Motown edge.

In the Dylan pantheon of live performances this is up there with the best as far as I’m concerned. The Hollywood crowd lap it up, clapping all the way through the performance. Dylan’s cool, confident and sure of himself. His vocal is strong bordering on excellent. His voice sounds almost 10 years younger. The lyrics Dylan pens for the occasion are dripping with political and social subtext:

It don’t take much to be a criminal
One wrong move and they’ll turn you into one
At first the pay is just subliminal
You protect yourself and you’re forever on the run

He follows this with a chorus that’s like a punch to the gut:

I see my light come shinin’
I don’t need no doctor or no priest
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released

The last verse seems to take the song from the universal to the personal, perhaps a biographical hint at Dr King’s own life, but certainly a critique of the big THEY. I can only surmise Dylan means the FBI and the CIA. Whoever really killed him is up for grabs (maybe not for much longer), but we know who was tracking him and surveilling and phone-tapping him all the way to the end.

They will find you where your stayin’
Even in the arms of somebody elses wife
You’re laughin’ now, you should be prayin’
Could be in the midnight hour of your life

Enjoy the video.