xxp whoa so did i
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 18 April 2013 06:07 (ten years ago) link
always picture her turning around to look at him as he walks away down the dock
Got to be Tangled for me. Back in my teens Tangled felt impossibly full of the mysteries of life. Like, why is this woman in a topless place bending down to tie the laces of his shoe?? And what's up with guy who started into dealing in slaves?
― that's not my post, Thursday, 18 April 2013 06:08 (ten years ago) link
Probably one of my favourite Dylan albums.
Shelter from the Storm
― c21m50nh3x460n, Thursday, 18 April 2013 06:09 (ten years ago) link
xxxp I always heard it as "docks that night." With all the fishing boats etc later in the song, docks is way better than non-specific "dark sad night". You're killing me.
― that's not my post, Thursday, 18 April 2013 06:14 (ten years ago) link
xxxxp It has always been docks that night. Mind blown.
― Badmotorfinger Debate Club (MFB), Thursday, 18 April 2013 06:25 (ten years ago) link
is there an easy way to get ahold of the original version?
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 18 April 2013 06:53 (ten years ago) link
A toughie. Went with Shelter from the Storm, but it's pretty much tied with Simple Twist of Fate. Buckets of Rain and Meet Me in the Morning are second.
― Eggs and the marketing board behind them, Thursday, 18 April 2013 07:03 (ten years ago) link
Close call with Idiot Wind, but I voted for the big girl. "Like a corkscrew to my heart..."
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Thursday, 18 April 2013 09:44 (ten years ago) link
Meet Me in the Morning.
― Eyeball Kicks, Thursday, 18 April 2013 11:28 (ten years ago) link
Pete Hamill's original liner notes, removed at some point:
http://www.bobsboots.com/CDs/cd-b28_Hamilltext.html
Haven't read them--supposedly wildly pretentious.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 April 2013 12:05 (ten years ago) link
"Neighborhood Bully" and "Is Your Love in Vain," to name two, are far more hateful and unpleasant and hysterical than "Idiot Wind."
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2013 12:15 (ten years ago) link
also ballad in plain d
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 18 April 2013 13:01 (ten years ago) link
Shelter from the Storm is nearly as ascerbic as Idiot Wind, but I'm going for You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome as the bitterest and most lyrically deft: dragon clouds so high above / I've only known careless love is imprinted on my adolescent soul.
― POSTOBON Naranja (soda), Thursday, 18 April 2013 13:23 (ten years ago) link
wow great thread - and pretty much everybody OTM (except Mr. I don't like BOTT).Apart from Lonesome, Rosemary or Meet me in the Morning - I could vote for any of these songs.
For the longest time my favorite was Say Hello - which, if you're lovelorn like I was when I was obsessed with this album, perfectly captures that specific type of narcistic melancholy: back-patting your heartbroken self with bogus lines like "whatever makes her happy, I won't stand in the way"
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 18 April 2013 13:41 (ten years ago) link
This album is such a big long slog Jesus. Voted Simple Twist of Fate cos it's got a nice chord sequence but fuck was Dylan getting good at out-staying his welcome at this time in his career. Same as Desire (albeit my favourite of his that I've heard) - 9 or 10 good songs that go on about 6x too long.
― pssstttt, Hey you (dog latin), Thursday, 18 April 2013 13:54 (ten years ago) link
you go on about 6x too long
― zero dark (s1ocki), Thursday, 18 April 2013 13:59 (ten years ago) link
How is Desire a better album despite being 6 time too long
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:00 (ten years ago) link
they both suffer from songs that go on too long is what i'm saying. i don't dislike any of these songs, but fuck listening to the whole of Hurricane again.
I think I get the same vibe from this album as Neil Young's On The Beach, which also has that long-song rainy day feeling but doesn't seem as boring.
― pssstttt, Hey you (dog latin), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:02 (ten years ago) link
you're boring and go on too long
― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:04 (ten years ago) link
i get the same vibe from you as i do from a lamppost
― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:05 (ten years ago) link
Nothing rainy about Tangled up in Blue - I always put it on a sunny day
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:05 (ten years ago) link
also, how is Shelter from the Storm acerbic? WTF???
― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:06 (ten years ago) link
I like Desire better, personally, because I like fun stupid rambling story songs like "Isis," "Romance In Durango," and "Black Diamond Bay." There's some dreary filler on that record but it's way better for singalong fun times while you're doing the dishes, while this album really only has "Tangled Up In Blue," "Idiot Wind" and "Jack Of Hearts" for that.
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:09 (ten years ago) link
like somebody thread, I pretty often have the "'some are mathematicians, some are carpenter's wives" line stuck in my head. Actually if this is an album about being in your 30's, that last verse of Tangled is a pretty good summary of it.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:09 (ten years ago) link
you go on about 6x too long― zero dark (s1ocki), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:59 (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― zero dark (s1ocki), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:59 (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
you're boring and go on too long― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:04 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:04 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
LOL
― pssstttt, Hey you (dog latin), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:09 (ten years ago) link
also, how is Shelter from the Storm acerbic? WTF???― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, April 18, 2013 10:06 AM (21 minutes ago)
― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, April 18, 2013 10:06 AM (21 minutes ago)
I guess that depends on your reading of the title phrase? I don't trust it as genuine or hopeful – which would, to my mind, be out of sync with the album's general gist – but instead as sarcastic, regretful, self-pitying.
Also, the penultimate line If I could only turn back the clock to when God and her were born seems to me to shunt the woman/relationship back into a once-pleasant, now-embittered past, as the architect of the narrator's misery.
― POSTOBON Naranja (soda), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:37 (ten years ago) link
This album is such a big long slog Jesus
Hence the carpenter's wives and the woman bending down to tie the laces of his shoes
― He has a lot of baggage (handlers' perks) (Michael White), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:44 (ten years ago) link
I think this album has some of his best-ever singing. It takes a lot to sell a line like "nothing really matters much/it's doom alone that counts" as something other than undergrad poesy. But he makes it sparkle, almost funny.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:20 (ten years ago) link
TRY IMAGINING A PLACE WHERE IT'S ALWAYS SAFE AND WARM
― not feeling those lighters (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:33 (ten years ago) link
"she might think i've forgotten her/ don't tell her, it isn't so."
― lemoncholia, Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:37 (ten years ago) link
chilling line. i think this is my favorite dylan album by light years but i'm not sure if i think it's his "best"
― lemoncholia, Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:38 (ten years ago) link
aw go on say it anyway.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:39 (ten years ago) link
idiot wind idiot wind idiot wind
― horseshoe, Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:43 (ten years ago) link
if you don't like mean dylan why are you even listening to dylan
good point.
― lemoncholia, Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:44 (ten years ago) link
i am going to listen to this album right now
― horseshoe, Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:44 (ten years ago) link
i help her out of a jam i guess but i use a little too much force
― horseshoe, Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:46 (ten years ago) link
i did always like the way he delivered "but I used a little too much force"
― charlie 4chan, internet detective (Hurting 2), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:51 (ten years ago) link
and "happy to just be ehM-PLOYED"
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:52 (ten years ago) link
haha all these fantastic intonations on this album!
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:01 (ten years ago) link
okay the "idiot wind" chorus still makes me catch my breath all these years after the first time i heard it.
― horseshoe, Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:01 (ten years ago) link
and the organ makes you hurl
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:03 (ten years ago) link
the way he sings "you're going to make me lonesome" is the dreamiest imo
― horseshoe, Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:08 (ten years ago) link
Some of the tunes on this I tend to like the bootleg series versions better. I really think there's just something very cramped-feeling about the record that makes it hard for me to stick with.
― charlie 4chan, internet detective (Hurting 2), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:12 (ten years ago) link
Could be any of the songs on side 1 for me, but I'm going with "Girl," for this part quoted above:
WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWITHAPAINTHATSTOPSANDSTARTS
― New Authentic Everybootsy Collins (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:20 (ten years ago) link
Yeah wonderful weirdo diction / intonation throughout. Always loved the wide gulf between Sessions "Idiot Wind" and the final version. Sessions version sung very properly / singer-songwritery; final version, dude can't keep from shouting all over the place, which sounds funny on those "arrrrrrrrrrr" rhymes.
― ヽ(´ー`)┌ (CompuPost), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:22 (ten years ago) link
the bootleg series version of Idiot Wind might be better, definitely casts the song in a less strident, more conflicted light:
http://www.myvideo.de/watch/7253080/Bob_Dylan_Idiot_Wind_Bootleg_Series_Vol_2
― ums (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:24 (ten years ago) link
Idiot Wind w/o a second thought, though. All-time sneer moments at the ends of the verses ("can't heeeelp it if I'm lucky" / "sweeeeeeeet lady" / "blooooooood on your saddle" / "YOU'RE ON THE BOTTOM") + the slow bleed from unbridled hate parade -> sad vulnerability/complicity is perfect.
Love Tony Brown's work all over the album, too.
― ヽ(´ー`)┌ (CompuPost), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:32 (ten years ago) link
yes i love "sweeeeeeeet lady"
― horseshoe, Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:33 (ten years ago) link
going to buy MBMT rn, don't know why i' waited so long
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 19:08 (four years ago) link
i've always found both "lily" and "idiot wind" to be such unbearable slogs and rather unfortunate tarnishes on a record that was otherwise deeply beautiful. the stripped-down versions are indeed a revelation; i'm hearing them as if for the first time and it's a punch in the gut for sure, these songs now feel like shimmering expanses rather than clumsy elephantine obstructions.
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 19:16 (four years ago) link
found a decent vinyl rip of the test pressing that they released for record store day this year. mostly sought it out bc, iirc, tylerw said the official ny sessions takes on the box set are remixed (which is fine, they sound lovely) and i wanted to hear the burble of the organ in "idiot wind" as it was originally intended i guess, lol. and... yeah, now i'm really in love with this version of the record, but it's so fuckin weird to me that dylan nearly released a drumless album after planet waves
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 July 2019 13:07 (four years ago) link
(drumless aside from "meet me in the morning," the only song with a full band arrangement, which is ALSO very weird to me)
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 July 2019 13:08 (four years ago) link
I've been meekand hard as an oak
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 July 2019 13:12 (four years ago) link
i've seen pretty people disappear like smokefriends will arrivefriends will disappear
if you want me, honey baby i'll be here
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 July 2019 13:26 (four years ago) link
Big Jim was no one’s fool, he owned the town’s only diamond mine
― stan by me (morrisp), Thursday, 11 July 2019 14:11 (four years ago) link
Always imagine that refers to Jim Thompson’s dad.
― Vini C. Riley (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 11 July 2019 20:06 (four years ago) link
Idiot Wind is so good. I love that contrast of cosmic storytelling in the verses ("shot a man called Gray", "ran into the fortune teller") with the scathing frankness of the chorus. the attempt to weave a story that actually goes anywhere is reined in each time by Dylan's helpless anger. he acknowledges it himself when he concedes "the wheels have stopped".
there's also (of course) a gradual sense as the song goes on of Dylan being complicit in feeding the mindless emotional turmoil. I like it how it ends on "we're idiots, babe..." rather than "I'm an idiot, babe...". Seems more organic that he's only willing to go in for a half-compromise after so artfully -- and artlessly -- making others the subject of his vitriol.
― charlie rex, Thursday, 6 October 2022 03:18 (one year ago) link
there really aren't many albums better than this one.
― charlie rex, Thursday, 6 October 2022 03:19 (one year ago) link
^^^
― Bee OK, Thursday, 6 October 2022 04:40 (one year ago) link