Song: Quinn the Eskimo (Mighty Quinn)
Artists: Manfred Mann
Original artist: Bob Dylan
Dylan recorded this in 1967 during his Basement Tapes sessions, but his record label
did not release it as a single until three years later. In January 1968 the song achieved
success when British group Manfred Mann released it under the shortened title of
Mighty Quinn. Their version went to No 1 in the UK and peaked at No 10 in the US.
Many believe Dylan got his inspiration from actor Anthony Quinn’s portrayal of an
Eskimo in the 1960 film, “The Savage Innocents”. Though Dylan says it was nothing
more than “a simple nursery rhyme”.
The Manfred Mann version is noted for Klaus Voormann’s distinctive flute solo.
The MM version gained extra exposure when it was adopted as a chant by many sets of football
fans in the UK. Instead of singing “you’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn” fans would sing
“you’ll not see nothing like (insert the name of your team here, for example United) win”.
Several other big names have also recorded the song. These include:
The Grateful Dead who started to perform it as an encore for live concerts and continued to do so
until the group disbanded.
The Hollies featured it on their Hollies Sing Dylan album.
Leon Russell includes it on a medley as the start of his Leon Live album.
Noel Gallagher and Kris Kristofferson also feature on the list of those who performed versions.
