Bob Dylan - My Rough and Rowdy Ways /2020) Anticipation and Discussion Thread

hearing this is his best album since some girls, but i won't believe it until the lex weighs in

xp I had the same reaction to the “November ‘63” thing; it’s an extended nitpick that doesn’t necessarily feel accurate.

(the same reaction as Karl, to Marcus’s critique of those lines)

And of course, following that, he has a really lovely recounting of “key west”

Yeah, I haven’t read much Marcus either, but he clearly shines when he’s writing about that old music (and drawing out the connections to Dylan).

What I got from that Greil Marcus bit about the opening lines was him trying to dissect why they feel so consciously clunky, and not quite getting it right. But I do think he's right that there's something about those opening lines that feels deliberately off, like Dylan's parodying something, and that "Wait a minute boys, do you know who I am?" is the moment when the story comes into focus.

It was the fearful night of December 8th
He was returning home from the studio late
He had perceptively known that it wouldn't be nice
Because in 1980, he paid the price

a typical Marcus mix of insight and obtuseness

lol at reading "You can bring it to St. Peter, you can bring it Jerome" as referring to Bo Diddley's maracas player instead of St. Jerome

"mother of muses" is so gorgeous and frail

forge my identity from the inside out
you know what i'm talkin' about

living in a nightmare
on ELM street

sorry i just love that

I was just reading the wiki for all along the watchtower and saw this quote from ‘68:
“I haven't fulfilled the balladeers's job. A balladeer can sit down and sing three songs for an hour and a half ... it can all unfold to you.”

I'm looking forward to someone revealing which 19th century Malaysian poet Dylan lifted most of the lyrics of this album from.

this really is lovely

possibly the only acceptable use of 'it is what it is'

also makes me want him to work with the dirty three

i used to joke that don henley is in a studio somewhere endlessly playing 'down at the sunset grill' and radio stations would just tune in and tune out when they wanted to play it

but if bobby were somewhere singing just extending 'murder most foul' forever i'd listen

Every time I listen to this album I have to stop after "I've Made Up My Mind..." and go tell someone how beautiful it is. Eventually I'm going to run out of people to tell.

Tell Greil Marcus!

"false prophet" sounds like a fuckin AC/DC song

"murder most foul" is entrancing, beautiful, strange, and laugh out loud funny at several points

on the whole i really enjoyed the record. much better than i was expecting tbh and i'll definitely be revisiting throughout the summer

This isn't really grabbing me on first listen, though it did inspire me to go back and relisten to Together Through Life for the first time in a long time, and I think I've been underrating that one.

"false prophet" sounds like a fuckin AC/DC song

haaa yes

listened to Murder Most Foul with a friend last night on my first night out in a long time, it is a moment I will remember

did you each take one headphone

grew up with Dylan but have never related to an album of his as much as this one, maybe I'm finally just old but he seems more relatable than ever

so impressed he made this album as a 79-year old

thousands were watching and no one saw a thing

So I'm finding that I have a hard time thinking of "Murder Most Foul" as part of the album. I find myself thinking of "Key West" as the closing track, and then of "Murder Most Foul" as something separate, like a companion album.

It's weird because I love "Murder Most Foul," but I don't want to listen to it after "Key West;" I want to just let "Key West" hang in the air for a while. Anyone else feel this way?

YES. "Key West" is such a vibe, I always want to luxuriate in it a little longer.

Of course, I usually forge ahead and allow "Murder Most Foul" to blow my head off.

Yes! I think I read that in the CD version, Murder Most Foul is on its own disc, so Key West does end the album.

xxp the CD issue of this album puts MMF on a separate second disc. It would fit easily on one CD so I'd say Mr Dylan views it as a companion to the album too. edit: argh too slow

Just got the CD in the mail... yeah, the way “MMF” is featured separately (with Kennedy’s portrait) on the back cover – it’s definitely presented as a separate thing.

My head keeps going to a Muppets parody: Gonzo in a Dylan cowboy outfit and pencil mustache, surrounded by his chickens, performing “Murder Most Fowl.”

"He lost his memory and wandered around Manhattan
Play Dr. Teeth, play Nights in White Satin."

bravo

Lol

Floyd Pepper taught the band to play
On Koozebane Beaker ran away
Hey-hey-hey-hey
Sang the son of Leva Mae

"they say Animal was based on Keith Moon,
play 'Baba O'Riley', play Shannon Hoon"

dying

"Kermit runs away when Miss Piggy calls,
play 'Shimmy Shimmy Ya', play Biggie Smalls."

“It’s time to put on makeup
It’s time to dress up right
It’s time for the Rocketman
To change his name from Reg Dwight”

God this is so, so, so good.

Meaning both the album and the turn this thread took.

Play John Denver singing for Kermit the Frog
Play it for Janice and Rowlf the Dog

Play it for Bo Duke and Boss Hawg
Play it for my neighbor Bruce, deader than a lo

log

“I pawned my pistol, I pawned my watch and chain
I’d pawn Camilla but Camilla can’t find my cane”

Play John Denver singing for Kermit the Frog
Play it for Janice and Rowlf the Dog

Literal LOL. Thanks.

Link Hogthrob, Dr. Strangepork
A Silverado Miss Piggy
Ride a mailtrain out in space
Into that silent sea

listening to a few tracks off Tempest to compare

his voice is so much better on this, I'm convinced the quitting smoking theory has to be true it's the only thing that makes sense

his voice is so thin on Tempest

Just read that he quit smoking for Nashville Skyline, which presumably helped him with that Lefty Frizzell croon, but than started again at some point after, although he was somewhat mysterious about the latter, as is his wont.