Bob Dylan POX

Mott The Hoople - Ballad of Mott The Hoople
Bruce Springsteen - For You
Wilco - Christ for President
Dion - Your Own Back Yard
Mouse & the Traps - Public Execution
Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
Peter Laughner - Sylvia Plath
Beck - Pay No Mind
Patrick Bruel - La place des grands hommes
Sir Douglas Quintet - At the Crossroads

I'm Not There
It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
You Ain't Going Nowhere
Tombstone Blues
4th Time Around
I Don't Believe You
She Belongs to Me
You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Most of the Time

Jokerman
Covenant Woman
Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)
Father of Night
I'll Keep It With Mine
4th Time Around
Blood in My Eyes
Gates of Eden
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Summer Days (I first heard this on the radio the morning of 9/11, just before I heard the news about the first plane crashing into the WTC. My immediate thoughts -- "A great new Dylan song. All is right with the world.")

1) Tangled Up in Blue
2) Jokerman
3) You're a Big Girl Now
4) You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
5) Simple Twist of Faith
6) Sweetheart Like You
7) Positively 4th Street
8) Lay Lady Lay
9) If You See Her
10) License to Kill

live another list, covers anothe list, live covers another list--"20/20 Vision," "We Three"...

my commentary on the christian stuff is here.

Let's talk for a minute about Bob Dylan's voice on Highway 61 Revisited.

Mid-'60s Dylan sounds like no other Dylan. In the early '60s, he made his name studying Woody Guthrie's every mannerism, and his first record was pretty much one long Guthrie impression. In the late '60s and early '70s, post-motorcycle crash, he sounded hoarse and stoned. In the mid-'70s, he got his moxie back and sang like a motherfucker right up until the end of his "Christian" phase in the early '80s. (Ever hear "When He Returns" from 1979's Slow Train Coming? For someone reputed to have a shitty voice, Dylan puts over a vocal performance the finest gospel singers couldn't top.) He's had his ups and downs since the early '80s, but way back in 1965, Dylan's voice was a hot, spurting geyser of petulance, boredom, self-satisfaction, amusement, cruelty, pride, rock, roll, and misanthropy. Wow.

Dylan on Highway 61 Revisited reminds me of the look on Prince's face in Purple Rain when the impetuous young lothario tries to "initiate" the sexy Apollonia by asking her to swim naked in Lake Minnetonka—not telling the eager starlet until it's too late that the lake she has just jumped into "ain't Lake Minnetonka." There must be something in that Minnesota water that incubates the insouciance of sneaky-git rocker-boys who have brains and talent to burn.

This is the Dylan best captured in D.A. Pennebaker's documentary Don't Look Back, which shows the 25-year-old singer berating a group of hangers-on at a party, egging them on to confess to a cowardly act. "I don't care who threw the glass. I just wanna know: Who threw the glass!!?"

He's not even doing his best party-trick Dylan. He doesn't sound like some folk singer's old college try at a Dylan impression. He sounds the way Mick Jagger wouldn't sound for at least another three years, and for all the influence Jagger has had on other singers, has anyone mentioned how much post-Satanic Majesties Jagger steals from Dylan? Dylan in '65 sounded like Jagger imitating Dylan, which is interesting, because that presupposes an R & B and Delta blues influence, and there's nothing black about the way Dylan sounded in the mid-'60s. He sounded like the hippest fuckin' hillbilly on the block.

You cannot cover Dylan. You can't. (You can, but you shouldn't.) Course, Dylan's songs are so good they should be shared with the world any dang-old way they can, but in this modern age, if you can't afford to steal a copy of Blonde on Blonde or Blood on the Tracks, you've got your Gnutellas and your WinMXes. The music is accessible to you if you want it. No one has any reason to cover Dylan anymore. I don't wanna hear any more Dylan covers. Once you've heard the originals, there's nothing but disappointment ahead of you anyway.

Dylan '65 was so starstruck by his own celebrity that he had no choice but to deliver his songs in a manner befitting a tribute to a genius. And only Dylan is smart enough to be aware of what a genius he is; he put the work into the songs, right? I mean, get a Clinton Heylin or a Bob Shelton or a Greil Marcus or a Nat Hentoff to cover "Ballad of a Thin Man"—sure, they could see the incisive fun of "Here is your throat back/Thanks for the loan" with a biographer's understanding or a critical eye, but ya know what? Their versions would suck ass.

No matter how smart you are, there's no way you can effectively grab the Oscar-potential ironic pathos in a tossed-off backhanded snark like "She speaks good English" (from "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues").

So fuck Judy Collins. Fuck Joan Baez. Fuck PP & M. Fuck The Byrds. Hendrix. Guns 'n' Roses. Devo. Fuck Eddie Vedder and P.J. Harvey and The Indigo Girls and, guh, Duran Duran. And Jeff Buckley, and Cat Power, and all those people too. Fuck 'em hard.

-- Desolation Row
-- Tangled Up in Blue
-- Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
-- Tombstone Blues
-- Dear Landlord
-- You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
-- Like a Rolling Stone
-- Not Dark Yet
-- Property of Jesus
-- If You See Her, Say Hello

11. New Pony
12. High Water (for Charley Patton)
13. On the Road Again
14. Foot of Pride
15. I Want You
16. One More Cup of Coffee
17. Up To Me
18. Love Minus Zero/No Limit
19. Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)
20. We Better Talk This Over

nb. this list will change in five seconds time

it's all over now baby blue
it's alright ma i'm only bleeding
stuck inside of mobile with the memphis blues again
If you see her, say hello
desolation row
tangled up in blue
simple twist of fate
you're a big girl now
don't think twice, it's alright
girl of the north country
boots of spanish leather
lonesome death of hattie caroll
To Ramona
Love minus zero
Visions of Johana

positively fourth street- such incredibly spiteful lyrics wedded to such lovely music. even better organ than 'like a rolling stone'? evidence of dylan's conceptual genius: wasn't this one of the first songs to make the charts which had a title that did not reference the lyrics?

knockin' on heaven's door- so stark and sad and instantly classic. strikes me as being a particularly 'undylanesque' track, if that even means anything. chord progression must have been ripped off a million times by now (i.e. 'fade into you')

tell me that it isn't true- the backing band on 'nashville skyline' is absolutely grand. the drum fills on this song kill me every time.

you're a big girl now- the song title makes me cringe a little, but for me this song is far superior to the others on 'blood on the tracks' that everyone always raves about ('idiot wind', 'tangled up in blue', etc.) the chord progressions are gorgeous, and the depth of pain in his vocals is rivaled only by the harmonica solo. in overall feeling reminds me of fred neil's 'faretheewell', (compare 'i'm going out of my mind, oooooohhhhh!/with a pain that stops and starts/like a corkscrew through my heart' to neil's delivery of the lines 'woke up this morning/it was drizzling rain/& all around my heart/was an achin' pain'...such affecting lyrics and phrasing in both)

just like tom thumb's blues- i always thought dylan was overrated as a lyricist; esp. around 'blonde on blonde' period, where he seems to be just tossing out amphetamine & cannabis induced nonsense. all the stuff about 'jugglers' 'clowns' and so forth seems particularly corny/dated to my ears. this one's a notable exception, though; right from the start some brilliant (& dare i say truly poetic) lines...establishing a been-down-so-long-that-it's-gone-full-circle-to-looking-like-'down'-again-for-me mood. frustration and confusion has rarely sounded so beautiful or been borne with such a wicked sense of humor.

absolutely sweet marie- another 'blonde on blonde' one's whose lyrics i can deal with. plus it's got that thin wild mercury sound, mannnn.

lay lady lay- me as teenager, after hearing dj of some aor station announce "...and we just heard 'lay lady lay' by bob dylan" ... "whaaaaa???!! that's really, truly dylan? not jim nabors?!!" ...anyway, truly lovely song, despite somewhat cringe-inducing title. supposedly the nashville session guys thought dylan's 'bongos would go nice in this one' suggestion utterly daft, but then realized it was completely genius after hearing the results. i particularly love the bridge in this one, 'why wait any longer for the world to begin?/you can have your cake and eat it too/why wait any longer for the one you love?...when he's standing/right in front of you'

tonight i'll be staying here with you- another beauty off of 'nashville skyline'. sigh.

most likely you go your way and i'll go mine- ummm, see 'absolutely sweet marie', above.

i want you- ummm, see 'most likely...' above. (i don't know! i just like it! just makes me feel good).

Visions of Johanna – well, this is probably my favourite song from the Dylan album I most admire (though it’s not necessarily my ‘favourite’ Bob LP). It’s just a magical piece of beautiful poetry, bursting with molten images which betray different nuances with each listen. From that first line, "Aint it, just like the night to play, tricks when you’re trying to be so quiet…" I’m completely seduced; yeah bob, my fuckin man, it sure is…tell me story to bring it down. It’s delicate and, humble too I think, Bob was flying by the seat of his pants when he wrote these songs and he had no idea how people were gonna take them, and I think you can hear it clearly here, in the fragile sound. The rush of fleeting images and twisted rendering of crashing on a brownstone floor somewhere downtown come on like a dream but it’s a dream that I always find some way of identifying; fragments and moments from the song reverberate with my own experiences and collide with own feelings, which is a something I find with many of my most treasured Dylan works.

Tangled Up In Blue/Idiot Wind (acoustic outtakes) – I can’t separate these two songs because they are both utter, utter genius. I prefer the acoustic versions (available on the Official Bootleg series or the Blood on the Tapes bootleg) to the ones which made it onto the album proper, but again, both of these songs are audacious, adroit renderings of people, places and situations that set off chains of memories and dreams for me.

Tangled: I mean, this is just awe-inspiring, a break up story, the story of a marriage, a journey through a relationship? I have no idea, but introspection pricks, and sometimes I’ll smile and sometimes I’ll cry. Fuck, his phrasing is just amazing and when he sets it off with that high guitar jangle, it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Idiot: Man, this song is epic, and I always feel it has so much of the man himself in, it’s vulnerable, it’s accusatory, aloof one moment, laid low the next. Bob was becoming more and more creative with his storytelling and poetics; the painting allusion has been used many times, but here it really is appropriate. The song is like scenes and snapshots rendered in such compelling, though inscrutable form, rich lyrical brushstrokes across a rough canvas, littered with signs and symbols which become more or less important depending on where I am in my life. What I see and hear in the song alters each time I listen to it, just as my perspectives shift each time I stand before a Rothko.

4th Time Around: Another of his most beautiful songs, and so simple – the story keeps rolling with that twinkling guitar lick in the treble which really does do it for me. Maybe the song is a rip of Norwegian Wood and a prod at John, but I’m not so sure – I just love the snappy exchanges and scene shifts, "She, buttoned her boot, and straightened her suit, and she said ‘don’t get cute…’"

I don’t Believe You: I love both versions of this song, the loping electric one he wheeled out in ‘66 and the original spangly version off Another Side Of. I just like the simplicity of it, boy meets girl, they have some fun, girl ignores boy, and I like Bob’s take on that, the details that stick out for him, and sense of humour; I mean, "if she ain’t feelin’ well…" Ha. I like that he can laugh about it.

Meet Me In The Morning: Now this song really is tidy as fuck. It’s a fuzzy haze, everything slowly coming in and out, before the sun sets on the song, "sinking like a ship." The guitar solo too, is class – how can you describe the sound he gets here? A nasty buzzing distorted phase, I have no idea what he’s doing but it really is something else.

It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding): Well, Bob literally brings it all back home on this one, and Jesus what an album this is, possibly my favourite overall. And this song, what? You mean someone actually wrote this? An actual person? It’s absolutely incredible, dark, loaded, angry; "money doesn’t talk, it swears" – who else could come up with that? It’s a flawless piece of politicised poetry, executed on a grand scale without ever coming on like its laboured or clichéd. And the great guitar riff, keeps it locked then rips on through on the chorus phrase.

As I went Out One Morning: Whoever plays bass on this song is a fucking God because it pops along beautifully, tying up the spartan guitar. It’s a great little story too, and Bob’s delivery is gorgeous.

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry: Led by the sliding piano blues licks, this is a rocking number off a rocking album. Bob drops one of my favourite lines of all time in this, as the song builds for the final crescendo he wails, "well I wanna be your lover baby, I don’t wanna be your boss:" what an absolute classic.

Isis: Another huge swirling, abstracted narrative from Bob, drenched in earthy Egyptian images, pyramids, turquoise, there are so many great phrases in this: "I broke into the tomb, but the casket was empty. There was no jewels, no nothin’, I felt I’d been had."
And I particularly love the line, "when he died, I was hoping that it wasn’t contagious." I love the relentless piano thumping throughout the whole goddamn thing and the drummer on Desire is a bit of a don too, decorating the songs with lush shimmering splashes.

Ballad of a Thin Man: The song Bob wrote for all the people who couldn’t get their heads around his decision to go electric and leave the protests behind. I love the chorus refrain, "you know something is happening here but you don’t know what it is," it’s a favourite slice of hipster sneering cool, delivered sideways on from behind huge aviators.

To Ramona
She Belongs To Me
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
Highway 61 Revisited
4th Time Around
Lo and Behold
I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
Sign on the Window
Tangled Up in Blue
Po' Boy

In no particular order:

1) Oh Sister (from the live 1975 album): This is the best version I've heard of a truly great song. For some reason the yearning comes through waaaay more than on Desire, which I always thought was a little flat on occasion. Marvellous

Line that jumps in my head: "Oh Sister am I not a brother to you, and deserving of affection?"

2) She's Your Lover Now: I don't have bootleg of this, I only have the half-complete version on the official bootleg album (only Dylan . . .), but this is still magnificant. He snarls and drools through a tirade of insults and spite, not levening the anger with thought or expression. A fabulous concoction of bile.

Line that jumps in my head: "You talk to her, (SNARL) she's your lover now."

3) Blind Willie McTell: Moving? Moving?!?! This batters you the way no other song, EVAH, could possibly hope for. "The world's still shit, but we can't see it these days." - a simple insight amazingly realised.

Line that jumps in my head:"Power and greed and corruptable seed, seem to be all there is."

4) To Ramona: The first Dylan song I learned to play, and it still fills my heart with gladness. Makes me wanna cuddle everyone.

Line: "From fixtures and forces and friends your sorrow does stem."

5) Tombstone Blues: Such a rush. This is what too much amphetamine sounds like when filtered through a blues guiter. Too many words, too many thoughts, just too much for one brain to cope with.

Line: "I wish I could write you a melody so plain that could hold you dear lady, from going insane."

6) Shelter from the Storm: Another cuddler. Redemption in the arms of the one you love - aaaaaah!

Line:"In a world of steel eyed death and men who are fighting to be warm, come in she said, I'll give you shelter from the storm."

7) Baby Let Me Follow You Down (Live 1966): Actually, I only need the first 20 seconds; the handclaps and the boos vs the harmonica. Tells you all you need to know about Bob's attitude in the mid sxities.

Line: Just the harmonica.

8) It Takes A Lot To Laugh etc (Live 1966): This is a bit flat on the record - it is AMAZING here. Bob sings like he's as tired of life as you imagine him to be, and he makes you believe.

Line: "I'm going back to New York City, I do believe I've had enough."

9) I Want You: When I only had the greatest hits, this seemed out of place at the end of the record - it was just too happy and silly compared with what went before. On Blonde on Blonde, it all makes sense. It may weel be happy and silly - how much does he want her?

Line: "I want you so bad" - maybe the finest piece of poetry ever uttered in the English language.

10) Desolation Row: Yes, I know EVERYONE likes this, but really, this IS one of the finiest things that you could ever stumble across.

Line: "Praise be to Nero's Neptune, the Titanic sails at dawn."

I could list the ones I missed out, but we'd be here for ever.

Okay, I'll stop now.

It takes a lot to laugh was on my "Nearly" list . . . again, great song. "Can't buy a thrill" is a line I'm ALWAYS using in conversation . . . probably why I don't have a girlfriend . . .

This song's supposedly about Phil Ochs.

The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
4th Time Around
Girl from the North Country
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
I Threw It All Away
I Want You
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Mr. Tambourine Man
One of Us Must Now (Sooner or Later)

I endorse this with either cubic millimeter of my cold black heart.

Man, she does he best to ruin that Bootleg Vol. 4 album.

The "Tonight, I'm Staying Here With You" on there is one my new all-time favorite.

Throw my tiiiicket in the wiiiind!

And I need an eleventh space, just for the way he says "I'm your friend" in "Tell Me Mama" from the "Royal Albert Hall" concert.

I'd be really impressed if each one of those represented a different VERSION of the song.

The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
4th Time Around
Girl from the North Country
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
I Threw It All Away
I Want You
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Mr. Tambourine Man
One of Us Must Now (Sooner or Later)

Foot of Pride
I'm Not There
Tight Connection To My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love?)
Day of the Locust
Dirge
Jokerman
Lonesome Day Blues
Sign on the Window
Maybe Someday
Buckets of Rain

* - Is it about P.F. Sloan? I think it is. Look at the initials! Anyone else ever notice that?

What can I say? If it's got to be OX, I like ballads, okay? And I'm bitter that there wasn't room for "Angelina"...
+ Scott CE otm on the live "Isis," but I'll take either one

Of course, numbers 2 thru 10 are subject to change. (#1 boringly secure. You know, that thin wild mercury sound and etc.)

its alright ma im only bleeding
visions of johanna
sooner or later
ballad of a thin man
positively 4th street
she belongs to me
shelter from the storm
idiot wind
blind willie mctell
like a rolling stone

Did he ever have as great a rhythm section -- hell, rhythm sound -- on a song as he does on "Jokerman"? As for his voice -- how the hell does he manage to wring so much scorn and awe?

sara
blind willie mctell
one too many mornings (live '66)
like a rolling stone
rita may
the ballad of frankie lee and judas priest
i don't believe you (she acts like we never have met)
tombstone blues
as i went out one morning
lonesome death of hattie carroll

can anybody tell me where the version of forever young in the new pepsi ads (the football one) is from? thanks in advance

Is it not just the "Continued" version from the PW album?

I.e. this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvTkspOc36Q

yes, that's it, thanks alot

love minus zero / no limit
i want you
my back pages
mr tambourine man
tell me momma
one of us must know (sooner or later)
sad eyed lady of the lowlands
just like a woman
ballad of a thin man
don't think twice, it's alright

Just saw this morning that he's finishing a three-night residency in my city tonight. Looked at a setlist to see if it would be worth going:

Things Have Changed
She Belongs to Me
Beyond Here Lies Nothing
Workingman’s Blues #2
Waiting for You
Duquesne Whistle
Pay in Blood
Tangled Up in Blue
Love Sick
High Water (For Charley Patton)
Simple Twist of Fate
Early Roman Kings
Forgetful Heart
Spirit on the Water
Scarlet Town
Soon After Midnight
Long and Wasted Years
Blowin’ in the Wind
Stay With Me

(Setlist from Friday night.)

yeah... doesn't look like it

Oh ho---"possibly as early as next week." Esp. curious about Bob/Eric tape w "nearly three LP sides" worth of material: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/05/rare-dylan-recordings-set-for-release-in-copyright-extension-bid/?smid=tw-nytimesmusic&seid=auto&_r=0

possible tracklisting; some of it rings a bell (thanx to ilxor tylerw for link)
http://expectingrain.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=81484&start=125#p1535267

my back pages
love minus zero/no limit
abandoned love
you're gonna make me lonesome when you go
tell me, momma
sad eyed lady of the lowlands
just like a woman
idiot wind
i want you
spanish harlem incident

abandoned love

The one on Biograph or the unreleased version from The Bitter End?

boots of spanish leather
queen jane approximately
visions of johanna
leopard-skin pill-box hat
went to see the gypsy
nobody cept you
if you see her, say hello
someone got ahold of my heart
brownsville girl
someday baby (tell tale signs)

sweet list birdo

Isis (live biograph)
Can You Please Crawl out Your Window
Foot of Pride
Clothesline Saga
Up to Me
Visions of Johanna
One of Us Must Know
Idiot Wind (live Hard Rain)
Desolation Row
Like a Rolling Stone

abandoned love

The one on Biograph or the unreleased version from The Bitter End?

― Sam Weller, Friday, October 21, 2016 5:04 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the bitter end! better lyrics, and the Biograph version is too polished/sterile

stuck in the middle with you
sultan's of swing
in my time of dyin
like a rolling stone
blonde on blonde
positively 4th street
lay lady lay
new morning
tears of rage
this wheel's on fire
love sick

xp

that Bitter End performance is so amazing, probably my favorite Bob for the last year or so. love the crowd, they know the moment.

the Live 66 recording of Tell Me, Momma - when it kicks in, might be one of the most exciting pieces of rock and roll i've ever heard

Yeah, it's up there.