Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks poll

that video really is quality edutainment. i knew there were alt versions of blood on the tracks but had never really heard it all in sequence. the silly song was also reasonably well-argued so it piqued my curiosity and made a playlist. it's excellent and might become my default way of listening to it

I disagree about meet me in the morning but agree about lily, rosemary etc.

mmmhhh sounds p interesting that vid...

i don't wanna interrupt the rolling thunder discussion on the bootleg series thread, so: i'm digging into more blood more tracks and, as someone who loves documents of process, it's wonderful, the way the arrangements of certain songs start full and brimming and on further takes gradually recede into nothing as he realizes how little he needs to get the feeling across

i had never heard the og acetate/ny sessions version of this record, and i gotta say i think dylan was a little right to second-guess himself, the minneapolis recordings inject the record with an energy that helps it go down smoother. some of this might be me preferring the versions i'm familiar with, for instance i just want "idiot wind" to steamroll over everything bc that's what the lyric wants to do. having said that, my ideal version of this record would have the spare ny sessions takes of "lily, rosemary etc." and "you're a big girl now," a song i will never tire of hearing in its different permutations, it's just he seemed to nail the feeling and the delivery in the acoustic takes

the full band "simple twist of fate"s rule so much also

i can't remember which dylan thread it is, but someone here recommended this alt version of Blood on the Tracks which switches out a couple tracks and dips from different sessions:

Tangled Up in Blue - Take 3, Remake 2 (Bootleg Series, 1-3)
Simple Twist of Fate (BotT)
You're a Big Girl Now (BotT)
Idiot Wind - Take 4, remake with organ overdub (Bootleg Series, 1-3)
You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go (BotT)
Up To Me - Take 2, Remake 3 (Side Tracks)
If You See Her, Say Hello (BotT)
Shelter from the Storm - Take 1 (Jerry Maguire)
Buckets of Rain (BotT)

i've really enjoyed listening to that the past several months.

ooh thanks for that karl, it's fun all the slightly different versions of the album you could cobble together from this tracklist

also this has never been one of my favorite dylan albums (i bought it in high school and aggressively didn't get it) but... i get it very much now. maybe i had to get past 30

"up to me" is too good of a lyric to have been left off this album but whatever bob

blood on the tracks is my ride-or-die dylan

All things considered, “Idiot Wind” may be my favorite Dylan lyric.

yeah, i have a hard time picking a favorite but it's just stunning. as many times as I've heard it the "one day you'll be in the ditch..." verse never fails to stop me in my tracks.

I've always liked this album but not as much as many people do (never considered it one of his best, for instance).
However, listening to the "more blood" single album version, I love it now since I consider the NY sessions are much better than the final original version (with the notable exceptions of "STOF" and "YABGN" which are stellar on the album).
For instance "TUIB" (take 3 remake 3) in so much better than on the album.
And yeah, it was crazy to leave out "Up to Me" !

I think Up to Me / Shelter From the Storm are too similar, he probably had to pick just one(?)

Yeah the music is pretty much the same and while the lyrics on "Up to Me" are great, I feel he already expressed that particular sentiment elsewhere on the album, while "Shelter" offers a nice - hopeful - counterpoint.

"shelter from the storm" is hopeful? i guess it's a good enough lyric you can get multiple things from it

I don't know but I prefer "Up to Me" and it's such a great track.
Another example of how the NY sessions are mostly superior to the final album imo is how fantastic "Lily, Rosemary..." (take 2) is compared to the awful album version.
It was revelatory to me. This "acoustic" take reminds of "Desolation Row" : a long, piece with complex stories and images.
It's now one of my favorite Blood tracks whereas I never liked the original version.

i def prefer the minneapolis "if you see her"

Aw I find his delivery more touching and emotional on take1. Same for « Idiot Wind » for instance.

Similar to the "Up to Me"/"Shelter..." tip -- I find "Call Letter Blues" to be much more direct/affecting than "Meet Me in the Morning," but he could clearly only include one of those songs -- and maybe "Call Letter Blues" felt too "on-the-nose" or something? (I feel like someone made a similar comment on another thread, but it occurred to me now as I revisit some of these tracks.)

Another example of how the NY sessions are mostly superior to the final album imo is how fantastic "Lily, Rosemary..." (take 2) is compared to the awful album version.
It was revelatory to me. This "acoustic" take reminds of "Desolation Row" : a long, piece with complex stories and images.

I can relate to this, but I've always appreciated the weird, dense nature of the album version (and still do). It may be Dylan's most "difficult"/challenging album track?

"If You See Her" is the dog of the album, IMO -- at least lyrically. I've always disliked this verse:

We had a falling-out, like lovers often will
And to think of how she left that night, it still brings me a chill
And though our separation, it pierced me to the heart
She still lives inside of me, we've never been apart

Yeah these are not his greatest lyrics... but to me the worst is :

Time is a jet plane, it moves too fast

It's horrible imo... and it's from one of my favourite songs of his !
The musical intro alone kills me everytime.

Agreed with AlexTC that the "Lily, Rosemary" is a revelation in its bare-bone version (although it still lacks musicality to make it a favorite).
"If You See Her" has always been one of my very faves, although - yes, seeing those lyrics printed is a bit embarrassing. For a 20 year old, however, they seemed very direct and powerful . These days, as a 40 something, "Tangled up in Blue" is probably my favorite lyrics of his entire career.

About "Lily, Rosemary" I like this story :

Dylan called up folk singer, Joan Baez, about this track. Baez told The Huffington Post: "He read me the entire lyrics to 'Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts' that he'd just finished from a phone booth in the Midwest." The phone call prompted Baez to write "Diamonds & Rust," which is about the relationship she had with Dylan in the '60s. Baez said she later lied to Dylan that "Diamonds and Rust" was about her husband, David Harris.

lol how "Diamonds and Rust" can ONLY be about Dylan !

Yeah atm "Tangled up in Blue" (but the More Blood version) is my favourite Dylan song.

what do y'all think about the new york versions of "tangled up in blue" starting off in third person? it's v interesting to me that he shifted it all to first person for the minneapolis recording

It’s ok but musically I prefer the bright rolling sound of the final version. Lyrically the switch between first and third person works too (hints of Lynch-ian time/person blurring) but the more straightforward final lyric still gets the essence of the story. I’m sure there are tons of academic papers on all this.

i agree!

With the possible exception of Tangled, I find the NY versions so much better: more raw, more conflicted between anger and sadness, or at least some of that anger is self-directed. A lot of that emotion seems drained on the MN versions, which are still good, just more one-dimensional, or the performance aspect veils the emotional core of the songs. Idiot Wind especially pales in MN.

Nah the NY version of TUIB is great (and better imo) !

I think the pov switch is kinda awkward; but having lived with the album version for so long before hearing the alt. version for the first time (on the first Bootleg Series set), it's hard to say how I'd feel if it were the other way around.

the way he delivers "and i'm just like that bird" on the ny sessions version of "you're a big girl now"... god, it's so bottomlessly sad. this gets lost in the minneapolis version (which has a gorgeous arrangement, so i like that we have both now)

Tangled is the one song that perhaps benefits from the bright MN sound, fitting for what is in essence a travelogue of a relationship. I sometimes prefer the ambiguity of the NY version, which fits into the long tradition of Dylan third-person shifting narratives.

i think this will always be my favorite dylan album

it just gets better as i get older and life starts sucking in new ways that blood on the tracks addresses

the way he delivers "and i'm just like that bird" on the ny sessions version of "you're a big girl now"... god, it's so bottomlessly sad.

^^^^The way he moans just after that line it’s like his heart is going to burst. One of my favorite moments in his entire career.

going to buy MBMT rn, don't know why i' waited so long

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.

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

(drumless aside from "meet me in the morning," the only song with a full band arrangement, which is ALSO very weird to me)

I've been meek
and hard as an oak

i've seen pretty people disappear like smoke
friends will arrive
friends will disappear

if you want me, honey baby i'll be here

Big Jim was no one’s fool, he owned the town’s only diamond mine

Always imagine that refers to Jim Thompson’s dad.

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.

there really aren't many albums better than this one.

^^^