Category Archives: Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan: 10 best songs recorded in 1974


bob dylan 1974

1974 is an important year in the life of Bob Dylan.

I’ve put together a list of the ten best songs recorded (studio or live) this year. One rule applies: it has to be officially released in some form. I’ve nominated 25 songs & I challenge everyone reading this to set up their own “Bob Dylan – Top 10 songs recorded in 1974”. Feel free to ignore my nominated songs list and please use the comments section to share lists & thoughts.

…and by the way lists are fun.

Relevant albums

Before The Flood
Released June 20, 1974
Recorded February 13–14, 1974, in Los Angeles,
except track 4: January 30, 1974, in New York
BobDylan_beforeTheFlood
Blood On The TracksReleased January 20, 1975

Recorded September 16–19, 1974, at A&R Recording in New York,
New York and December 27–30, 1974, at Sound 80 in Minneapolis, Minnesota

 blood-on-the-tracks-album-cover
BiographReleased November 7, 1985
Recorded November 1961-August 1981
Bob-Dylan-Biograph
The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3
(Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991
Released March 26, 1991
Recorded November 1961 – March 1989
 Bob Dylan Bootleg_series_1-3
Blood on the Tracks – New York Sessions
source: Original test pressing
Recorded 16 September – 8 October, 1974
Bootleg
 bob dylan new york sessions

Continue reading Bob Dylan: 10 best songs recorded in 1974

Bob Dylan: Man In The Long Black Coat, Bonn, Germany 4 July 2012 (Video)


bob dylan germany 2012

Crickets are chirpin’, the water is high
There’s a soft cotton dress on the line hangin’ dry
Window wide open, African trees
Bent over backwards from a hurricane breeze
Not a word of goodbye, not even a note
She gone with the man
In the long black coat

KunstRasen Gronau
Bonn, Germany
4 July 2012

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & harmonica)
  • Stu Kimball (guitar)
  • Charlie Sexton (guitar)
  • Donnie Herron (violin, mandolin, steel guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • George Receli (drums & percussion)

Somebody seen him hanging around
At the old dance hall on the outskirts of town
He looked into her eyes when she stopped him to ask
If he wanted to dance, he had a face like a mask
Somebody said from the Bible he’d quote
There was dust on the man
In the long black coat

Preacher was a talkin’, there’s a sermon he gave
He said every man’s conscience is vile and depraved
You cannot depend on it to be your guide
When it’s you who must keep it satisfied
It ain’t easy to swallow, it sticks in the throat
She gave her heart to the man
In the long black coat

There are no mistakes in life some people say
It is true sometimes you can see it that way
But people don’t live or die, people just float
She went with the man
In the long black coat

There’s smoke on the water, it’s been there since June
Tree trunks uprooted, ‘neath the high crescent moon
Feel the pulse and vibration and the rumbling force
Somebody is out there beating a dead horse
She never said nothing, there was nothing she wrote
She gone with the man
In the long black coat

-Egil

Bob Dylan: 10 live versions of “Visions of Johanna” (Videos & audios)


bob dylan portsmouth 2000

Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re tryin’ to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded, though we’re all doin’ our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin’ you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind

Even though the original album version (Blonde On Blonde – 1966) is the definitive version, there are many great live versions floating around over @ youtube.

Here are 10.

Festival Hall
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
20 April 1966

Continue reading Bob Dylan: 10 live versions of “Visions of Johanna” (Videos & audios)

Bob Dylan: Just Like A Woman, Atlantic City 27 February 1999 (Video)





bob dylan 1999 atlantic city

Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as I stand inside the rain
Ev’rybody knows
That Baby’s got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl

Copa Room
Sands Casino
Atlantic City, New Jersey
27 February 1999
Early show

  •  Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Bucky Baxter (pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
  • Larry Campbell (guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • David Kemper (drums & percussion)

Queen Mary, she’s my friend
Yes, I believe I’ll go see her again
Nobody has to guess
That Baby can’t be blessed
Till she sees finally that she’s like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl

It was raining from the first
And I was dying there of thirst
So I came in here
And your long-time curse hurts
But what’s worse
Is this pain in here
I can’t stay in here
Ain’t it clear that—

I just can’t fit
Yes, I believe it’s time for us to quit
When we meet again
Introduced as friends
Please don’t let on that you knew me when
I was hungry and it was your world
Ah, you fake just like a woman, yes, you do
You make love just like a woman, yes, you do
Then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl

-Egil

Today: Bob Dylan recorded “She’s Your Lover Now” in 1966, 48 years ago

Bob Dylan 1966 10

Pain sure brings out the best in people, doesn’t it?
– Bob Dylan (She’s Your Lover Now)

..‘She’s Your Lover Now’, a gleeful masterpiece more redolent of its era than most things that came out at the time..
~Michael Gray (BD Encyclopedia)

Continue reading Today: Bob Dylan recorded “She’s Your Lover Now” in 1966, 48 years ago