Written during the 1967 Basement Tapes sessions and a 1968 hit for Manfred Mann; Self Portrait has it live from the 1969 Isle of Wight festival with the Band.
The words
Everyone is restless and stuck until the mysterious Quinn arrives, and then the whole crowd comes joyfully alive.
The song describes a gloomy, idle crowd waiting for something to happen, and a strange figure called Quinn the Eskimo whose arrival will change everything. Its verses sketch odd, comic scenes of boredom and frustration, and its big singalong chorus celebrates the coming of the hero. It is playful and nonsensical rather than serious, a party song with a hint of a parable. The Isle of Wight performance with the Band is loose, rough and good-humoured.
Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗Listen and watch
The words
Everyone is restless and stuck until the mysterious Quinn arrives, and then the whole crowd comes joyfully alive.
The song describes a gloomy, idle crowd waiting for something to happen, and a strange figure called Quinn the Eskimo whose arrival will change everything. Its verses sketch odd, comic scenes of boredom and frustration, and its big singalong chorus celebrates the coming of the hero. It is playful and nonsensical rather than serious, a party song with a hint of a parable. The Isle of Wight performance with the Band is loose, rough and good-humoured.
Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗Connections
On the map
In threads
The same year · 1970
Read onWikipedia ↗MusicBrainz ↗