First I hope that "I Could Have Had Religion" will be on Dylan's album, but I won't be surprised if it isn't. It would be nice if musicians like Dylan, who knew and enjoyed Rory's music, would do some of his music to keep his memory alive, but if Dylan played Cork, yet never saw fit to mention Rory in his home town, I don't think I expect much more from him.
I Could've Had Religion isn't a terribly intricate song, but that is not what makes it great. It's a simple blues, brought to life by Rory's passionate musicianship. It was a favorite of the crowd, as soon as he started the recognizable intro you could feel the crowd's attention. It's just like any of Rory's more intense performances, a showcase for his talent. And when he began to play it again, toward the end of his life, in parts he sang it took on almost the passionate pleading of a prayer. Maybe to Rory it was.
Did he write it or didn't he? He always attributed it to someone else. Prior to Rory's first recordings of it, I haven't found quite the same tune done by anyone before him. Found similar ones. There was a thread on this forum that went round and round about that.
The Thread
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3203And seems to me that one of the reasons Dylan did not record the tune previously, was that his staff in researching it, found it was mostly Rory's creation, undoubtedly influenced by many others. But since Dylan claimed in clear conscience he couldn't record it and say, traditional arranged by Bob Dylan, that he would have to acknowledge Rory as its author, he declined to record it.
The song IMHO is about love gone bad, yes about sex, but more about corruption and the loss of innocence, and about "evil" women controlling men through sex. As written by a man of course.
It's a great song.
And BTW, Catholicism isn't unique to the Irish

RobertaSparrow the Dark One
