Worst Dylan Songs -- sez TIME Magazine

Is this Lester Bangs takedown of Desire available online anywhere? Sounds fascinating.

here you go... http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/smalltalkatthewall/message/42037

Lawrence from Felt on some of those later Dylan records:

"What I liked about…Bob Dylan were the brilliant lyrics, but after ‘Desire’ why didn’t Dylan use synths instead of saxes and soul backing singers? He wore flares, didn’t acknowledge the new wave, and that dated him"

anyway...

― dell (del), Wednesday, May 25, 2011 8:08 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I love Lawrence so so so much

Ballad In Plain D is clearly the worse. No-one has ever listened to it more than once. NO-ONE.

Any lover knows you skip the first songs on each side of Desire. Then you only get the Jung psych cross the border tales.

whoa, really? you skip Hurricane? why?

cuz I married ISIS on the fifth day of May!

oh, you're one of those CRAZY PEOPLE who LISTEN TO LYRICS, that would explain it ;-)

hey. I listen to music, too.

Look at it this way: every four years Dylan writes a `new' protest song and it's always about a martyred nigger and he always throws in a dirty word to make it more street-authentic. I don't use the word `nigger' for effect or to make myself look hip, but rather because just like our fathers before us that is all Jackson and Carter have been to him: another human life to exploit for his own purposes.

uh...

fuckin Lester

rmde

yeah i like lester bangs, but he was wrong a lot of the time.

My favorite of these is "Rainy Day Women". I like the drunken marching band sound and it's funny.

The worst song: "Rainy Day Women."

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, May 24, 2011 12:36 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/poophead2/laughing_o_GIFSoupcom.gif

that Lester piece is pretty epic... don't really agree with him that the biggest problem with Joey is that it takes liberties with the facts, seems like he got rather hung up on that

Hm. Although I haven't read it in years, I thought he was more disgusted with Dylan's stupid romanticizing of this thug.

well yeah, same difference.

also do vinyl pressings of Desire totally suck or what? can't believe they could actually fit 30 minutes on side 2

but there IS a difference.

even if he'd read a NYT article verbatim it's a halfwitted song.

I dunno, I take it as a given that pop music is going to involve the stupid romanticization of thugs, it's a pretty ancient lyrical conceit.

the song (which I am listening to RIGHT NOW) is interminable and pretty boring tho

there are two versions of "Forever Young" on Planet Waves, right? i like the fast one.

xp yeah, i mean, as far as stupid romanticization of thugs, dylan wrote a whole album about billy the kid. (and i love that album)

On the other Dylan thread, i suggested that "Dark Eyes" make this list.

^PG & BTK is one of my faves of his from the 70s. I know it's 60% filler. But it's damn good filler.

Well, the difference is that the cowboy era is already suffused with enough mythos to allow him some wiggle room. Gallo is one of those guys at the bar in Goodfellas.

so comedy acceptable romanticization = tragedy + time

I could write extended remarks on aging hippies, in an attempt to stay relevant and hold fast to their weird obsession with heroes and martyrs, picking dumb subjects for songs in the seventies and eighties.

so comedy acceptable romanticization = tragedy + time

would so pay to watch Alan Alda play Gallo.

picking dumb subjects for songs in the seventies and eighties.

oh man can we make a poll out of this

Patti Smith and Dylan would crowd the competition.

i dunno, i guess i think of "joey" as an exercise in mythmaking -- like dylan *knows* it's bullshit in the same way he knows that billy the kid is kinda bullshit. but the larger than life idea of these guys in the imagination and in song, that's what he's interested in. has dylan ever been interested in "facts"? maybe i'm giving him too much credit. it's not like my fave song or anything, but i think just taking it at face value, saying dylan thinks joey gallo was a rad, admirable dude, might be a mistake. also, i like the opening lines:
Born in Red Hook Brooklyn in the year of who knows when
Opened up his eyes to the tune of an accordion
Always on the outside whatever side there was
When they asked him why it had to be that way "Well" he answered "just because".

My list of Dylan's ten worst, in no order:

1. The Times They Are A-Changin'
2. Disease of Conceit
3. Lenny Bruce
4. Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
5. Ballad in Plain D
6. Joey
7. Mozambique
8. Is Your Love in Vain?
9. Neighborhood Bully
10. Rainy Day Women

i dunno, i guess i think of "joey" as an exercise in mythmaking

i think everyone does, people just debate whether it's a good one

and it's a little facetious to say "has dylan ever been interested in facts?" when we're talking about a song on the same album as "hurricane"

that sonofabitch is BRAVE AND GETTIN' BRAVER!

well, hurricane ain't exactly factually correct either ...is that what you mean? didn't he have to go to court to explain some of the writer's license he and levy took with that song?

He cared about the fact that a guy was in jail for reasons he felt were wrong. To say he's not being lazy, but 'just playing with myths' is undercut by the actual protest song on the album.

haha just looked at the wikipedia page for "joey" and totally forgot about the song being inspired by dylan having dinner with Gallo pal Jerry Orbach.

you would write that song too if you had lunch with jerry orbach.

yeah but I would write a song about Jerry Orbach instead!

jerrrrry jerrrrry, what made them want to put your baby in a corrrrner...?

also do vinyl pressings of Desire totally suck or what? can't believe they could actually fit 30 minutes on side 2

I was fixing to ask about this. I've only known the album on cd, and always wondered what it took to squeeze 56 minutes on a piece of vinyl. At the same time you wish that Dylan or whoever said "Fuck it--let's make a double", so the album could have room for classic outtake stuff like "Abandoned Love", "Golden Loom", "Catfish" etc.

i'd support a double album of desire stuff -- those outtakes are great. rita mae, too.

Was there ever a studio version of "Seven Days"?

not that i know of -- there's a desire sessions bootleg with this tracklist:
Disc 1:
01. Rita May
02. Romance In Durango
03. Catfish
04. Money Blues
05. Abandoned Love
06. Golden Loom
07. Oh Sister
08. Sara
09. Isis
10. Oh Sister
11. One More Cup Of Coffee
Disc 2:
01. Black Diamond Bay
02. Mozambique
03. Hurricane
04. Rita May
05. Rita May
06. Joey
07. Hurricane

Cool. Thanks!

The best thing about Desire is the descriptor "Desire-era Dylan", which was mysterious & alluring to me in the early to mid 90s when I hadn't yet heard Desire but read a fair bit of "Americana" music press using that term. I guess it refers to long songs with vaguely "gypsy" instrumentation & male-female vocals. The worst thing about Desire: well, you guys are doing a good job of recounting the many candidates for me.

I'm curious to read you guys' picks for worst Dylan. Post'em!

there's so much I've never listened to...

once more with feeling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvIgb8cx6JE

I mean do I really want to listen to Froggy Went a Courtin...