Bob Dylan surprised the music world today by releasing an unexpected brand new recording on his website. The song is a cover of ‘Full Moon and Empty Arms’ written by Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman and is best known for the 1945 version by Frank Sinatra. The melody is based on Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2.
Dylan gives it an expressive vocal with what sounds like his touring band and a strong emphasis on the pedal steel guitar in a slow almost spooky 1950s country-pop arrangement.
The song is streaming on Dylan’s website here bobdylan.com and one of Dylan’s social media links today had what looks like an album cover with the word ‘Shadows in the Night’ adding to speculation that he is about to release an album of that name, possibly a standards/covers album. As with David Bowie’s 2013 release, the new song comes as a bolt from the blue, but Dylan is known to have spent time in the studio in recent months.
The 72 year old artist continues to tour relentlessly and his next scheduled concerts are here in Ireland, with dates in Cork (Marquee) on 17 June and Dublin (o2) on 18 June.