Catfish played baseball
And struck everybody out.
He whooped the Yankees.
I don't like songs about baseball. Well, I don't like most songs about baseball. There are exceptions, but songs about sports generally leave me cold. "Catfish," a Jacques Levy-Bob Dylan collaboration that was recorded for the 1976 album "Desire," but ultimately left off, is no exception. The song is basic. Catfish Hunter is a great baseball player, nobody can play like he can, and so on. That's all very nice. The Dylan touches that make it a little more sly deal with Billy Martin grinning, Catfish's pinstripe suit and cigar and alligator boots, and that kind of thing. Best of all is the line about striking out Reggie Jackson on the Yankees:
Reggie Jackson at the plate
Seein’ nothin’ but the curve
Swing too early or too late
Got to eat what Catfish serve
That's pretty good writing.
The song, meanwhile, appeared on the first installment of the Bootleg Series in 1991. And here is Joe Cocker's version from the "Stingray" album.
Hello there Robert, Thank you for posting this analysis of a song from Bob Dylan's Music Box http://thebobdylanproject.com/Song/id/113/Catfish Come and join us inside and listen to every song composed, recorded or performed by Bob Dylan, plus all the great covers streaming on YouTube, Spotify, Deezer and SoundCloud plus so much more... including this link.
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