Thanks to Mike who e-mails a potpourri of background info regarding Bryan Ferry (who, as mentioned, is releasing an entire album of Dylan covers in March):

I’ve been a fan of his since the 70s. Although I’ve only heard about half of his discography I’ve always admired his style although his work can be inconsistent. The early Roxy Music stuff is tops in my book. I would guess that Dylan was always a huge influence on him. In the early 70s he put out an album of all covers that had a very interesting take on “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”. The album is entitled These Foolish Things. Here it is on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYP3NKOr98U

I’m not sure if it is in print now but I recently came across a used CD released in the 80s and was thrilled to find it. I have been a fan of this album since the late 70s. It might have been the first post-60s all covers rock album although Bowie’s Pin Ups might have it beat. Either way it is a solid album and worth checking out. He also released an album in the 90s entitled Frantic that has two Dylan covers; “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”. This is a really good album as well.

It may just be coincidence but there may be another connection. Wilbert Harrison recorded a tune called “Let’s Work Together” that Canned Heat covered back in the 60s. Bryan Ferry released a version entitled “Let’s Stick Together”. He changed the lyrics from a general call for unity to a relationship between a man and a woman. Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZTsW8WKy5c

Yes that is Jerry Hall his girlfriend at the time and ironically she ended up leaving him for Mick Jagger. Dylan recorded the song on Down In The Groove. I’m sure he was aware of the Wilbert Harrison version but he used the altered lyrics. I can’t say where he got the song because I do not know the entire history. I have no idea if Bryan Ferry changed the lyrics or if he was merely covering a version by someone else. Maybe Wilbert Harrison recorded both versions. Who knows. Either way it is interesting at least to a geek like me.

So there you go. That’s interesting about Let’s Stick Together. Wilbert Harrison’s entry on AllMusic.com seems to indicate that he first wrote and recorded the song as “Let’s Stick Together,” and later revived it as “Let’s Work Together.”

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Addendum 2:44pm: And reader Jay contributes this:

I was going to let this pass, but there is one interesting angle on Bryan Ferry that has been unremarked upon. I don’t know that it can be couched in Second Amendment terms, but Bryan has been steadfastly supportive of his son Otis Ferry, who is a champion of the rights of Fox Hunters in Britain. If you’re at all interested you can browse through these links: (BBC news search.)

I first heard Roxy Music’s eponymous debut album, in 1973, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, under the best of circumstances. When I returned home I bought all the LP’s available at that time plus all the solo projects. The first album remains my favorite first album by anyone, group or individual. Unusual because I never really liked David Bowie, Queen and all the synthesiser bands of the seventies that we identify with that time and place.

Even though Bryan Ferry attended an arts school (Newcastle, I believe) and is identified with early glam rock, I think he’s not held in high regard by the Politically Correct in Britain. And the British can still teach us a thing or two about political correctness. It’s going to be the death of them.

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