Mercury Records: Mighty Quinn

Loosely based on Anthony Quinn’s performance as an Inuit named Inuk in the 1960 film “The Savage Innocents,” the official title of Bob Dylan’s composition was “Quinn the Eskimo (Mighty Quinn).” Although Dylan recorded a demo the song with The Band in 1967, he did not release a recording of the song until 1970 when a live version appeared on the “Self Portrait” LP. The rendition that most folks remember, however, is the 1968 hit by Manfred Mann.

While Manfred Mann’s #1 UK release on Fontana Records was consistently named “Mighty Quinn,” this was not the case for the American version on Mercury Records. Not only did the US release have a plethora of label styles from variety of pressing plants, the song’s title varied as well. Mercury releases of the tune in 1968 are listed as “Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo),” “The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo),” and “Quinn the Eskimo.” The US version charted at #10.

Manfred Mann’s version featured Mike d’Abo on vocals, Manfred Mann on keyboards, Mike Hugg on drums, Tom McGuinnes (later of McGuinnes Flint) on guitar, and Beatles’ friend Klaus Voorman on bass and flutes. Mann and Hugg were the only two original members of the band that remained in 1968.

Despite the fact that the album did not include “By Request – Edwin Garvey,” the flip side of “Quinn the Eskimo (Mighty Quinn),” the UK album was titled “Mighty Garvey!” The US LP release was more appropriately named “The Mighty Quinn.”