“Alberta” (1977) – Opo * Traditional arrangement by Opo * LP: Opo 2 * Produced by Job Zomer * Label: Stoof
Dutch version of a traditional song that Leadbelly had recorded as early as 1935 and which Bob Dylan credits to himself on his Self Portrait album. Opo transforms it into an expression of desperate desire. The singer is Lenneke De Vries, who, like many folkies from her era, sounds refreshing and clear in the context of the croaky and flip hipster present. By the final verse, when she sneaks into the brass bed from Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay,” and the mandolin strums like a palpitating heart, you’ve stopped what you’re doing and gaze off, listening with longing of your own.