Someone said this, I agree to it
Bob will get you through times of no dope better than dope will get you through times of no Bob.
BOB DYLAN
Dylan feels a change comin' on but doesn't like what he sees
BOB DYLAN has delivered his verdicts on the greatest names in popular music over the past half century. Dylan, who turned 68 on Sunday, uses an interview with Rolling Stone magazine to list Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry and the Beatles as among those he most admires.
He reveals the existence of long-lost recordings he did with Cash, hints at a possible collaboration with Paul McCartney, and expresses relief that he never met Elvis, his teenage inspiration.
Dylan had several invitations to Graceland in the 1960s, but had no desire to meet a hero who was past his best and along the way to drug addiction.
"I wanted to see the powerful, mystical Elvis that had crash-landed like a burning star on to American soil," Dylan told the magazine. "The Elvis that was bursting with life. That's the Elvis that inspired us to all the possibilities of life. And that Elvis was gone, had left the building."
Dylan's interview with the US author and historian Douglas Brinkley comes a month after the release of his album Together Through Life, his 33rd release in a career spanning 46 years.
Dylan reveals an acute awareness of his status as a survivor of pop's early hall of fame. The only other contemporary he considers senior to himself is guitarist Chuck Berry, 82. "As long as Chuck Berry's around, everything's as it should be."
Dylan describes the late country singer Johnny Cash, with whom he collaborated occasionally, as a man who had his bad patches. Cash, who died in 2003, did some "notorious low-grade stuff" in his later years, he says. "I do miss him. But I started missing him about 10 years before he kicked the bucket."
He reveals that while on tour in the 1960s, he and Cash spent time in London hotels singing into a tape recorder. Another singer he would like to collaborate with is McCartney. "I'd like one day to sit down and work with Paul."
Originally a folk singer, Dylan was famously branded a "Judas" by his early fan base after swapping his acoustic guitar for electric and embracing modern rock'n'roll.
Yet 40 years on, he is less enthusiastic about innovations such as YouTube, iPods and video games. "It robs [youth] of their self-identity," he says. "It's a shame to see them so tuned out to real life."
NOT THAT "TOGETHER": Bob Dylan uneven on new album
Liverpool, England May 1, 2009
Liverpool, England
Echo Arena
May 1, 2009
1. Watching The River Flow (Bob on keyboard)
2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Bob on keyboard)
3. Things Have Changed (Bob on keyboard)
4. Boots Of Spanish Leather (Bob on guitar)
5. The Levee's Gonna Break (Bob on keyboard)
6. Sugar Baby (Bob on keyboard)
7. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum (Bob on keyboard)
8. Po' Boy (Bob on keyboard)
9. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (Bob on keyboard)
10. Just Like A Woman (Bob on keyboard)
11. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on keyboard)
12. Something (Bob on keyboard)
13. Thunder On The Mountain (Bob on keyboard)
14. Like A Rolling Stone (Bob on keyboard)
(encore)
15. All Along The Watchtower (Bob on keyboard)
16. Spirit On The Water (Bob on keyboard)
17. Blowin' In The Wind (Bob on keyboard)
Birmingham, England April 29, 2009
Birmingham, England
National Indoor Arena (NIA)
April 29, 2009
1. The Wicked Messenger (Bob on keyboard)
2. It Ain't Me, Babe (Bob on guitar)
3. High Water (For Charley Patton) (Bob on keyboard)
4. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
(Bob on keyboard)
5. Man In The Long Black Coat (Bob on keyboard)
6. Desolation Row (Bob on keyboard)
7. Honest With Me (Bob on keyboard)
8. Workingman's Blues #2 (Bob on keyboard)
9. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on keyboard)
10. Ballad Of A Thin Man (Bob on keyboard)
11. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) (Bob on keyboard)
12. Ain't Talkin' (Bob on keyboard)
13. Thunder On The Mountain (Bob on keyboard)
14. Like A Rolling Stone (Bob on keyboard)
(encore)
15. All Along The Watchtower (Bob on keyboard)
16. Spirit On The Water (Bob on keyboard)
17. Blowin' In The Wind (Bob on keyboard)
London, England April 25, 2009
| London, England O2 Arena April 25, 2009 |
| 1. | Maggie's Farm (Bob on keyboard) |
| 2. | The Times They Are A-Changin' (Bob on keyboard) |
| 3. | Things Have Changed (Bob on keyboard) |
| 4. | Chimes Of Freedom (Bob on keyboard) |
| 5. | Rollin' And Tumblin' (Bob on keyboard) |
| 6. | The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll (Bob on keyboard) |
| 7. | 'Til I Fell In Love With You (Bob center stage) |
| 8. | Workingman's Blues #2 (Bob on keyboard) |
| 9. | Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on keyboard) |
| 10. | Ballad Of Hollis Brown (Bob on keyboard) |
| 11. | Po' Boy (Bob on keyboard) |
| 12. | Honest With Me (Bob on keyboard) |
| 13. | When The Deal Goes Down (Bob on keyboard) |
| 14. | Thunder On The Mountain (Bob on keyboard) |
| 15. | Like A Rolling Stone (Bob on keyboard) |
| (encore) | |
| 16. | All Along The Watchtower (Bob on keyboard) |
| 17. | Spirit On The Water (Bob on keyboard) |
| 18. | Blowin' In The Wind (Bob on keyboard) |
The Big Question: Why does Bob Dylan keep touring and is he still the best?
Why are we asking this now?
Because, like God, Dylan is everywhere. His ubiquity is extraordinary. His 33rd studio album Together Through Life will shortly be released, the fourth in an extraordinary late flowering of bluesy songs that kicked off with the brilliant Time Out of Mind in 1997. His Theme Time Radio Hour, available here on BBC6, has logged 100 hours of quirkily eclectic music from a slew of genres, even if it may be coming to a close (his most recent song "theme" was "Goodbye"). His recent exhibition of paintings, the Drawn Blank Series, in London's Mayfair may be followed by a travelling sculpture exhibition in Europe next year. This Sunday's one-off concert at the Roundhouse is a stroll in the park for a man who routinely performs 150 concerts a year. And if anyone ever mentions the world's most prestigious writing award, the Nobel Prize for Literature, somebody will tap his nose and sagely assure you that Bob Dylan has been "on the shortlist" for the last four years. Oh and Barack Obama brags about having Dylan's songs on his iPod. Like I say, ubiquitous.
Remind me: who is Bob Dylan?
Born Robert Zimmerman in May 1941. Family descended from Russian and Lithuanian Jews. Raised in Duluth and Hibbing, Minnesota, where formed bands in high school. Dropped out of University of Minnesota, determined to infuse US folk music with new seriousness. Went to New York, discovered art and books, sat at hospital bedside of his hero, Woody Guthrie. Began to perform songs in Greenwich Village. First album of cover versions from Columbia, 1962. Made reputation with second and third albums, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and The Times They Are A-Changin', as musical seer and prophet of social breakdown and political apocalypse in songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind", "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", "Masters of War", "Chimes of Freedom", etc. His sandpaper rasp and unmelodious whine put off some listeners, but cover versions by Joan Baez, The Byrds and others showcased the melodies. His love songs and sardonic "talking blues" also impressed.
So he was the voice of the Sixties?
By 1964 he was considered the leading light of protest movement - but he soon rejected political rhetoric in favour of impressionistic, beautiful, image-driven songs of existential and cultural confusion: "Mr Tambourine Man", "Desolation Row", "Visions of Joanna", "Like a Rolling Stone". They introduced the concept of the long, thoughtful, poetic rock lyric and influenced everyone from The Beatles to Bruce Springsteen. But he irritated many folk fans by embracing electric blues and rock'n'roll in 1965.
Enough of the Sixties. That was ages ago. What happened in the Sixties, Seventies, Eighties and Nineties?
Dylan's finest period was 1963-66, three years of crazy fertility. In the Seventies, he hit a second stride with Blood on the Tracks and Desire, the first charting the end of his marriage, the latter returning to his early embrace of public political controversy with "Hurricane," about a wrongly -accused black boxer. The listening world sat up and took notice again. Dylan appealed to the stoned gypsy rover in his fans' hearts by embarking on the Rolling Thunder Revue with a dozen Greenwich Village folkies, commemorated in the documentary Reynaldo and Clara. He became a born-again Christian in the late 1970s and his output (Slow Train Coming, Saved) suffered.
The 1980s were a glum time: many albums flopped, his collaboration (eg with the Grateful Dead), charity singing (eg Live Aid 1985) and movies (eg the disastrous Hearts of Fire) were badly received. But he played new tricks. He revealed that he'd kept certain key recordings of the decade (like the epic "Blind Willie McTell") off his albums; they were later released as The Bootleg Series. He formed a casual, intensely melodic, folkie super-group called The Travelling Wilburys with George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne, to great acclaim. He also began the gruelling night-after-night gig schedule that became known as The NeverEnding Tour, which is still going strong.
In the 1990s, after another critical mauling, Dylan stopped making studios for seven years. He returned to his folk roots and made an album of classic blues and folk numbers. He needed a break. In spring 1997, he nearly died of a heart infection called pericarditis, but he bounced back to produce Time out of Mind later that year, his best-received work in years, which ushered in the current remarkable renaissance.
So the secret of his longevity is...?
Several things. 1) His transformation of rock'n' roll in the mid-1960s casts a long shadow: anything new that he does is greeted with respect. 2) His shifting of genres (folk, rock, country, jazz, western swing, rockabilly, lounge ballads, even rap – he invented the rap song with "Subterranean Homesick Blues") means he remains musically unpin-down-able. 3) The air of mystery and aggressively-defended privacy he projects, about his early days in Minnesota to his motorbike crash to his marital status, are red rags to critical bulls. 4) The lexicon of literary, Biblical and filmic hints with which his songs are studded have delighted successive generations of fans and academics, eg former Oxford Professor of Poetry, Christopher Ricks. 5) Lately, he has delighted hard-core fans by suddenly embracing the truth. His first volume of autobiography, Chronicles Vol 1 was a miracle of clarity and warmth about his early musical and literary education; Martin Scorcese's documentary about his life, No Direction Home, saw him giving straight answers to straight questions on-camera – something unheard of 20 years ago.
Isn't he just a prolix singer-songwriter who takes himself too seriously?
Actually, no. He is a modern version of the baffling, shape-changing riddler or trickster archetype from world mythology. He has played games with listeners, fans, cultists, academics, biographers and thousands of journalists over the years. As for his seriousness – whimsy has come to play a big part in his appeal. Kenneth Tynan used to say he was sure God the Father would be just like Ralph Richardson – a puckish, unpredictable, whimsical grandee. Dylan's the same. Listen to him name-checking young women singers on his last album ("I was thinking 'bout Alicia Keyes... I was wonderin' where Alicia Keyes could be,") watch his hat-and-cane soft-shoe shuffle in the video to his Oscar-winning "Things Have Changed," marvel at the way he lent his endorsement to the Victoria's Secret lingerie company, or recorded a Pepsi commercial with the rapper Will I.am broadcast at this year's Superbowl, and allowed the Co-Op to edit the lyrics to "Blowin' in the Wind" for a TV commercial, and you're aware of a man laughing at his own past and his reputation. He's one of the few undisputed musical geniuses of the 1960s explosion, but has always seemed able to laugh at his status as "voice of a generation."
Is Dylan worth all the fuss?
Yes...
* He's a living legend, who connects us with the very beginnings of rock and youth protest
* He has a bigger back catalogue of fine songs (600) than the Beatles, Stones and Beach Boys combined
* He can still be the conscience of America; he knows Barak Obama wouldn't want to let him down
No...
* Not any more. Listen to the backing of his new songs and you can tell he's lost interest in melody
* Have you heard him in concert mangling his old classics? It's a desecration
* He's only revered because he'll be the first 1960s rock star to hit 70...
Geneva, Switzerland April 20, 2009
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Arena
April 20, 2009
1. Watching The River Flow (Bob on keyboard)
2. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob on keyboard)
3. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Bob on guitar)
4. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
(Bob on keyboard)
5. Million Miles (Bob on keyboard)
6. Tough Mama (Bob on keyboard)
7. Tryin' To Get To Heaven (Bob on keyboard)
8. The Levee's Gonna Break (Bob on keyboard)
9. When The Deal Goes Down (Bob on keyboard)
10. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (Bob on keyboard)
11. Beyond The Horizon (Bob on keyboard)
12. Ballad Of A Thin Man (Bob on keyboard)
13. Thunder On The Mountain (Bob on keyboard)
14. Like A Rolling Stone (Bob on keyboard)
(encore)
15. All Along The Watchtower (Bob on keyboard)
16. Spirit On The Water (Bob on keyboard)
17. Blowin' In The Wind (Bob on keyboard)
You might have missed some content in your review:
IT’S ALL GOOD
Talk about me babe, if you must
Throw on the dirt, pile on the dust
I’d do the same thing if I could
You know what they say
They say it’s all good
All good, it’s all good
"Talk about me babe, if you must" talk spread rumors; gossip:
’If you do that, people will talk’ this refers to the Singout
Magazine article by CPUSA member Irwin Silber accusing Bob Dylan
of selling out "Throw" put me suddenly or forcefully into a
given condition, position "on the dirt" in my grave "pile on the
dust" slang, ’Pile the shit on thick’ invent a pile of shit
about me! Restless Farewell "If the arrow is straight and the
point is slick it can piece through dust no matter how thick"
"I’d do the same thing if I could" if I were in your position I
would have done the same to you as I never believed a word you
said you goddamn commie! "You know what they say / They say it’s
all good" sarcastic: Communism sucks.
Big politicians telling lies
Restaurant kitchen, all full of flies
Don’t make a bit of difference
Don’t see why it should
But it’s all right
cos’ it’s all good, it’s all good, it’s all good
"Big politicians" communist politicians with grandiose ideas
"telling lies" lying to the public about the true nature of
Communism "Restaurant kitchens" commercial recording studios,
kitchen, as place where something is prepared "all full of
flies" full of Communist performers "Don’t make a bit of
difference" sarcastic, Dylan would not be bringing this up if he
was indifferent to it "Don’t see why it should" more sarcasm
"But it’s all right cos’ it’s all good."
"Kitchen" as recording studio; Liner Notes to the Freewheeling
Bob Dylan "After that I thumbed my way to Galveston, in four
days tryin’ to find an ol’ friend whose ma met me at the screen
door and said he’s in the Army. By the time the kitchen door
closed I was passin’ California" In Chronicles Dylan wrote that
he hitchhiked to Texas to hook up with a friend who had a band
but was rejected, screened out, and never made it to the
recording studio.
"Flies" as Communist performers, Some Other Kinds of Songs;
"johnny (little johnny)" Senator Joseph McCarthy "with his
father’s hammer" with Congressional legislation "nailed five
flies t’ the kitchen window�" caught five communist party
members who had recording contracts� "named all the girls" named
other Communists "that did it" who were in the Party "he did /
an’ never knew a / one that didn’t."
"Hammer" as legislation; Eleven Outlined Epitaphs "where state
lines" the borders of the Soviet State "don’t stand" are not
respected "an’ knowledge don’t count" and leftwing propaganda is
dismissed "when feelings are hurt" when people are oppressed
"an’ I am on the side a them hurt feelings / plunged on" cast
suddenly, violently, or deeply into a given state or situation
"by unsensitive hammers" by foreign (unsensitive) heartless
legislation "an’ made t’ bleed by rusty nails" and made to
suffer by antiquated laws. Hard Rain, "I saw a black branch with
blood that kept drippin’" I saw a black branch of humanity
suffering "I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-
bleedin’" I saw a Congress with legislation that was trimmed
off, "bleed" the part of the page that is trimmed off.
Wives are leaving their husbands, they’re beginning to roam
They leave the party, and they never get home
I wouldn’t change it, even if I could
You know what they say man
It’s all good, it’s all good, all good
"Wives are leaving their husbands" Communist Party members are
no longer wed to the strict party line "they’re beginning to
roam" they are becoming deviationists; Marxist term for someone
who does not follow the Party line "roam" as in drift, a gradual
deviation from an original course, model, method, or intention
"They leave the party" they quit the Communist Party "and they
never go home" and they never fully realize what sort of regime
they supported "home" a place of origin or headquarters: the
Kremlin, the Soviet Union "I wouldn’t change it, even if I
could" I would have liked to have forced them to have witnessed
the totalitarian society that they supported but "You know what
they say man / It’s all good, it’s all good, all good"
Brick by brick they tear you down
A teacup of water is enough to drown
You oughta know if they could they would
Whatever going down
It’s all good
All good, it’s all good
"Brick by brick" one by one the reliable sources "the good old
bricks" that you depend on for the information that you based
your worldview on "they tear you down" are denigrated, replaced
my Marxist thinkers "A teacup of water" the smallest amount of
sorrow for others "is enough to drown" is enough to make you
want to drown in sorrow and join the Left instead of thinking
about yourself "You oughta know if they could they would" but if
they had any individual value they would not have to hide behind
collectivism, they are doing so because they are inferior!
"Whatever going down" even if it’s a world class fraud being
perpetrated on Americans "It’s all good All good, it’s all good
People in the country, people on the land
Some of ’em so sick, they can hardly stand
Everybody would move away, if they could
It’s hard to believe, but it’s all good
"People in the country" dissidents deported to gulags "people on
the land" people in the motherland of the Soviet Union "Some of
’em so sick, they can hardly stand" some of the worked to death
by their Communist slave masters in Siberia that they are almost
dead "Everybody would move away, if they could" everyone would
leave that worker’s paradise, that shithole called the USSR if
they could get an exit visa, which they cannot "It’s hard to
believe" it is hard to believe that a country can keep so many
people virtual prisoners, "but it’s all good
Yeaaaa!" but that’s cool, hey it must be fun to be in a Soviet
political prison or mental hospital to which dissidents, many
who were Jewish, were committed.
The widows cry, the orphans bleed
Everywhere you look there’s more misery
Come away with me babe, I wish you would
You know what I’m saying
It’s all good, all good
"The widows cry" those whose loved ones have been killed by the
Communists; Liner Notes to John Wesley Harding wherein Dylan
describes the CPUSA, "They scorn the widow and abuse the child
but I am afraid that they shall not prevail over the young man’s
destiny, not even them!" "the orphans bleed" the anti-Castro
exile fighters incur casualties, Baby Blue "Yonder stands your
orphan with his gun / Crying like a fire in the sun" "Everywhere
you look there’s more misery" all the Communists do is increase
the amount of misery in the world, not ameliorate it or
eradicate it "Come away with me babe, I wish you would" move in
my direction, move to the right "You know what I’m saying" you
must know this from what I have just said, "It’s all good, all
good, I said it’s all good, all good" Communism stinks and gee
wilikers, not only is it 90 miles from Key West, it has struck
my home!
There’s a cold blooded killer stalking the town
Cop cars blinkin’, something bad going down
Buildings are crumbling in the neighborhood
but it’s nothing to worry about, cause it’s all good
It’s all good
"There’s a cold blooded killer" killer slang: having an
impressive or effective power or impact; a formidable enemy, a
Maoist "stalking" following or observing a person persistently,
especially out of obsession or derangement "the town" New York
City as in New York Town "Cop cars blinkin’, police are wavering
or backing down, as in a contest of wills "something bad going
down" Dylan’s 30th Birthday Party Sunday May 24, 1972 "Buildings
are crumbling in the neighborhood" Dylan townhouse is falling
into decay or ruin, and he has to move; Idiot Wind "The priest
wore black on the seventh Day and sat stone faced while the
building burned" I "burned down his crib" drug slang; made it
useless by bringing the heat or the rips around "but it’s
nothing to worry about, cause it’s all good!
I’m gonna pluck off your beard and blow it in your face
This time tomorrow I’ll be roaming in your place
I wouldn’t change a thing, even if I could
You know what they say
They say it’s all good, it’s all good
O yeah
"I’m gonna pluck off your beard" after he beat me up, as a coup
de gras, Dylan plucked off my FREE BOB DYLAN button from my work
shirt and threw it to the ground. I had been court marshaled,
demoted in rank, and my medals were stripped from my uniform, I
was disgraced "beard" something that serves to divert suspicion
or attention from another thing such as the fact that I was not
as militant as I pretended to be "blow it in your face" throw it
in your face in numerous poems, Idiot Wind "I waited for you on
the running board" Journey Through Dark Heat "the laughter down
on Elizabeth Street" "This time tomorrow" When the Night Comes
Falling From the Sky, "This time tomorrow I’ll know you better /
When my memory is not so short" "I’ll be roaming" wandering
about in search of something; Idiot Wind "in your place" a
business establishment or office, in this case a safe house from
which pot was sold. As stated Lord Oliver Foot was a mutual
friend who often visited the office "I wouldn’t change a thing,
even if I could" I wouldn’t get you busted, even though I could
have "You know what they say / They say it’s all good, it’s all
good / O yeah"