i said, you know, they refused jesus, too. he said, you're not him.
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 10 April 2018 06:19 (six years ago) link
even those throwaways you mention — "outlaw blues" and "on the road again" get by on pure attitudeindeed one of my favorite Bob moments is
Then you ask why I don't LIVE hereHoney, how COME you don't MOVE
― niels, Tuesday, 10 April 2018 06:27 (six years ago) link
i love the two takes in 115th dream! i voted baby blue!
― 龜, Wednesday, 11 April 2018 18:25 (six years ago) link
Yeah the false start on the dream is awesome
― stormzy daniels (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 11 April 2018 19:10 (six years ago) link
It's Alright Ma
― brimstead, Wednesday, 11 April 2018 22:50 (six years ago) link
Leaning a lot towards It's All Over Now Baby Blue but I really can't ignore Love Minus Zero/No Limit either - went for the latter in the end.
― Valentijn, Thursday, 12 April 2018 13:52 (six years ago) link
115th Dream, for the false start, for the hilarity of its twisted take on the founding fathers/Moby Dick, for the sound of a band having fun
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Friday, 13 April 2018 12:11 (six years ago) link
Shocked...people aren't totally sick of Subterranean Homesick Blues
I'm a little tired of it too, except when I watch the Pennebaker clip, when it automatically becomes the greatest thing ever done. I'm going to copy it for my staff yearbook photo this year (deciding on which cue card right now).
― clemenza, Friday, 13 April 2018 13:03 (six years ago) link
voted for Maggie's Farm, love the bile and the way that he sketches those characters
Well, he puts his cigarOut in your face just for kicksHis bedroom windowIt is made out of bricksThe National Guard stands around his doorAh, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's pa no more
― stormzy daniels (voodoo chili), Friday, 13 April 2018 13:46 (six years ago) link
his bedroom window is made out of bricks is such a devastating insult lol
she talks to all the servants about Man and God and Law. everybody says she's the brains behind pa.
― difficult listening hour, Friday, 13 April 2018 21:14 (six years ago) link
THEN HE FINES YOU EVERY TIME YOU SLAM THE DOOR
well he hands you a nickel, he hands you a dimehe asks you with a grin if you're havin' a good time
it's that "with a grin" that makes the line for me
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 13 April 2018 22:14 (six years ago) link
otm
maggie's brother is the most immediately hateful one: the paymaster and enforcer. cruel smile on display. but behind him, pa capital, walled up and guarded (yet still smoking in yr face)-- probably worse. and behind him... what? an idea? an eye in the pyramid kind of deal? when force is gone, there's always mom
― difficult listening hour, Friday, 13 April 2018 22:21 (six years ago) link
also, where is maggie? what does she do? have always wondered.
― difficult listening hour, Friday, 13 April 2018 22:25 (six years ago) link
Welp, I voted for Gates of Eden, and I'm not sorry. It's not necessarily the best song on here, but to me it's maybe the one that's the most intense and visionary.
feel u, certainly it has some fairly jumbled verses but it also has some of my fave images on the album (dogs on the beach, rotting kingdoms, "the princess and the prince discuss / what's real and what is not" is superior to pound and eliot in the tower imo), a droning vortex melody that makes the clumsier lines at least spooky, and (my fave moment) the drawled assonance on the phrase "i try to harmonize".
― difficult listening hour, Friday, 13 April 2018 22:39 (six years ago) link
voted Dream just cos it's so much fun. feels like one of those 60's comedies with Peter Sellers or whoever and a house full of random partiers.
really love when he sings "An Englishman said 'fab'", it just comes out of nowhere so it's extra funny. it's just so plainly stated, it doesn't need any spin to it, just the idea of an Englishman saying "fab" in this whirlwind of insanity instantly gets the joke across.
― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 13 April 2018 22:47 (six years ago) link
― difficult listening hour, Friday, April 13, 2018 5:25 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
maggie thatcher, obv
― stormzy daniels (voodoo chili), Friday, 13 April 2018 22:48 (six years ago) link
dylan always was ahead of his time
http://phildellio.tripod.com/homesick.JPG
I'm guessing a quarter of the people I work with already think I'm senile, so really, this can only help.
― clemenza, Friday, 13 April 2018 22:50 (six years ago) link
SHB is classic, more than ever. for me the cards have transcended from cool to overused cliche to now legendary, its an Instagram post, its a selfie, a meme, complete with celebrity photo bomb cred. the funny thing about being ahead of your time is that doesn't stop being true in fact it only seems for prophetic as time goes on.
really love the Nilsson/Lennon version on "Pussy Cats", it has a real cool dirty Voorman bass line. Dylan's original band recording is of course perfection, the ultimate junkyard rock. like a wheezing huffing punk steam engine dying in slow motion.
― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 13 April 2018 23:17 (six years ago) link
I play tambourine carefully and, I think, reasonably well. Good tambourine players are few, and what they do is subtle and song-enhancing. I love a well-played tambourine.
HOWEVER. There is no one in the history of ever who has "played a song" on the tambourine, as if it were a solo instrument capable of harmony, melody, or song structure.
And, I will further postulate, if it were possible to "play a song" on the tambourine, no one who "played a song" on the tambourine did so in a way that was sensorally transformative to the assembled listeners.
― fleetwood machiavellian (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 13 April 2018 23:29 (six years ago) link
I always thought Mr. Tambourine Man’s primary instrument was guitar and that Turkish tambourine was just an extra.
― Made in the Shadow Blaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 14 April 2018 00:32 (six years ago) link
Have you ever played a tambourine...on acid?
― how's life, Saturday, 14 April 2018 00:59 (six years ago) link
I always thought Mr. Tambourine Man’s primary instrument was guitar
Based on... what exactly?
If his primary instrument is guitar, then we would call him Mr. Guitar Man. Or Mr. Guitar Man Who Also Happens to Have a Tambourine.
Hendrix, Dylan, and Lennon all occasionally played bass. But would you refer to any of them as "Mr. Bassist"?
― fleetwood machiavellian (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 14 April 2018 01:18 (six years ago) link
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/21/bruce-langhorne-obituary
― Made in the Shadow Blaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 14 April 2018 01:22 (six years ago) link
Right. Langhorne was... a guitarist who sometimes played tambourine.
― fleetwood machiavellian (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 14 April 2018 01:29 (six years ago) link
― fleetwood machiavellian (Ye Mad Puffin)
are Mr. Airplane Man's primary instrument airplane?
― ziggy the ginhead (rushomancy), Saturday, 14 April 2018 01:31 (six years ago) link
Also, if you don't feel transported by tambourine solos perhaps you will enjoy solos on the the maracas and cajón:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlhYAKfilYk
― Made in the Shadow Blaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 14 April 2018 01:36 (six years ago) link
But yeah, the truth be told I once asked my self exactly the same questions as you, YMP, about what was the nature of his “song.”
― Made in the Shadow Blaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 14 April 2018 02:24 (six years ago) link
If his primary instrument is guitar, then we would call him Mr. Guitar Man. Or Mr. Guitar Man Who Also Happens to Have a Tambourine.There was a street musician in my town for a few summers, when I was a teenager, an American with a guitar playing rock classics, and I'd often run into him with friends when out partying late. He had these small film containers half-filled with rice that he would use as rhythm eggs, and at some point he gave me one of those, said it was a "wonder-shaker", and I accompanied him for a few songs. I took it home with me and I keep it to this day. We called him the wonder-shaker man, and I always think of him when I think of mr. Tambourine Man.
so many lines from SHB regularly pop into my mind, especiallyTwenty years of schoolin’and they put you on the day shift
Me and my brother went to the same high-school and my brother got real fed up with it at some point. I admitted to him that I had also been fed up with it and that for a long time while riding my bike to school I would sing from the top of my lungs (in Danish translation): "I AIN'T GONNA GO TO [name of school] NO MORE!". To my surprise, he told me that he'd been singing the exact same silly translation for weeks!
This album rules.
― niels, Saturday, 14 April 2018 09:21 (six years ago) link
If I had to rate these songs, I think I'd put them in the following order (favorite to least).
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue""Maggie's Farm""Love Minus Zero/No Limit"Subterranean Homesick Blues""It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)""Bob Dylan's 115th Dream""Gates of Eden""She Belongs to Me""On the Road Again""Mr. Tambourine Man""Outlaw Blues"
― Darin, Saturday, 14 April 2018 14:28 (six years ago) link
There is no one in the history of ever who has "played a song" on the tambourine
as usual with Dylan im pretty sure it's half earnest half jerking your chain but mostly there for color.
for me it conjures up travelling minstrels, saying "guitar player" would be a bit too modern, it's as much of an oddly formed anachronism as Dylan's role as pop "folk" musician. on that tip tambourine is an accessible instrument to all whereas guitar has skill/technical barriers to entry, it's a bit of communal creation/breaking down barriers between artist and audience.
― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 14 April 2018 15:54 (six years ago) link
i want to say also it took me some time but eventually it clicked that Lou Reed is trying to be Dylan on so many VU tracks ("baby be gooood/ do what you shouuuld/ you know it'll be alriiight").
― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 14 April 2018 15:57 (six years ago) link
ah im regretting not voting for "It's All Over Now Baby Blue". the chord change where he dives into "the carpet too is moving under you" is so unexpected it feels like like an emotional sucker punch. the rest of the song is just standard I/IV/V and the sudden unsteadiness never fails to take me back. it's like the brief time when you are going down a set of stairs and miss a step. or when you are in a relationship and someone says something and you get this feeling in your stomach. so beautiful, that fall.
― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 15 April 2018 02:12 (six years ago) link
and on that line!
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 15 April 2018 02:13 (six years ago) link
the Them version of "Baby Blue" is also classic, the vibraphone lick fits the trippiness of the words. its a good fit for the soul vocals of Van Morrison ("look out the saints are coming through"). Beck, another Dylan acolyte, interpolated Dylan & Them for his "Jackass".
legendary is the "Don't Look Back" take of Dylan playing it to Donovan. this is what it's like when rock stars drunkenly crash each others parties chasing memes/feuds in the 60s. Dylan starts playing "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" at 2:49:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sqAhF6i9H4
― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 15 April 2018 02:25 (six years ago) link
that performance is so great. and for all the talk/myth/apocrypha about that night & its context, I always preferred the version of Love Minus Zero that Dylan plays in that hotel room over the version on the record. Again, it's the sublime & resigned chord changes paired with the devotional lyric. Negation and infinity.
― flappy bird, Sunday, 15 April 2018 02:39 (six years ago) link
― Made in the Shadow Blaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 15 April 2018 03:30 (six years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Monday, 16 April 2018 00:01 (six years ago) link
Donovan's "To Sing for You" is a really nice song. I've written lots about how Donovan is the god of pop-music soundtracks, even more than the Rolling Stones. I'm a big fan, and I was glad he went into the rock'n'roll HOF.
What makes that Pennebaker clip so great, though, is how overmatched he is by Dylan. He knows it (love his expression at 3:55), and Dylan knows it. Dylan really knows it, and he's basking in it (in a way that makes you smile, not hate him).
― clemenza, Monday, 16 April 2018 00:09 (six years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Tuesday, 17 April 2018 00:01 (six years ago) link
my love
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 17 April 2018 00:03 (six years ago) link
Can't argue with the results. There are at least 4 or 5 songs on here that I wouldn't argue with as a #1 though.
― o. nate, Tuesday, 17 April 2018 00:15 (six years ago) link
Voted for the favorite, but could just as easily have voted for “Outlaw Blues” as well as several others.
― Made in the Shadow Blaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 April 2018 00:36 (six years ago) link
Huh! For whatever reason, LMZ/NL has never really done all that much for me. I like it fine, just surprised to discover it's a consensus favorite against so many heavy-hitters.
Clearly plenty of other people have seen something in the song, even beyond the "everybody covers every Dylan song" effect. A little searching turns up versions by Buck Owens, Leon Russell, the Walker Brothers, Joan Baez, Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac, Judy Collins, Jackson Browne, the Turtles, Nana Mouskouri, and Ricky Nelson. I thought I'd heard the last one before, but realized belatedly I was thinking of his cover of "She Belongs To Me" - guy was into this album!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWPrtfE-TBI
― explosion from DOOM courtesy of id software (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 17 April 2018 16:22 (six years ago) link
yea same
― marcos, Tuesday, 17 April 2018 16:29 (six years ago) link
it's one of my favorite Dylan melodies tbh
― droit au butt (Euler), Tuesday, 17 April 2018 16:33 (six years ago) link
heh Love Minus Zero feels like coffee shop autopilot to me, one of the least impressive tracks on the album (shrug emoji)
― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 17 April 2018 21:34 (six years ago) link
Thirteenth Floor Elevators version of "It's All Over Now (Baby Blue)" is one of my all time favorite Dylan covers. That Joyce Carol Oates short story is really good too, that was a story that I got assigned in freshman lit in collage and really liked.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/joyce-carol-oates-on-dylans-its-all-over-now-baby-blue-1432045329
― earlnash, Wednesday, 18 April 2018 01:22 (six years ago) link
yeah I was surprised at that for 1976
― flappy bird, Monday, 3 December 2018 05:41 (five years ago) link