Category Archives: Bob Dylan

Today: The Rolling Stones released Some Girls in 1978 – 35 years ago

some girls cover

Ain’t I rough enough
Ain’t I tough enough
Ain’t I rich enough
In love enough
Oooo, ooh please.

Stones-1978 1

Some Girls was released in 8 June 1978 and it was their first full album with Ronnie Wood. It’s a great album, up there with the best albums in their catalogue. They mixed in some new wave sounds, added a bit of disco and kept their soul, blues and country tinged rock’n roll. Released on the height of the punk and disco era, The Stones made this masterpiece of an album. Some Girls is very much a product of it’s time, but when Rolling Stones made a record that gave a nod to these “fads,” they did so with such anger and speed that the young people in 1978 must have been struck with envy. They certainly made an album that has stood the test of time and it’s a definitive Stones album.

The Rolling Stones prove time and again that they still have what it takes.

rolling-stones 1978 2

Here are all the songs live:

1. Miss You (1978), the eight and a half minute version, a masterpiece! The guitar work on this song (this version) is simply spectacular. I read somewhere sometimes that this was one of the songs that Prince wished he had written, and we can hear on his music that he has been influenced by this tune in a big way.

2. When the whip comes down (1978) Sleezy and cool and it kind of reminds me of Star  Star.

Yeah, mama and papa told me I was crazy to stay
I was gay in New York, a fag in L.A.
So I saved my money , and I took a plane
Wherever I go they treat me the same
When the whip comes down

3. Just My Imagination (running away with me) a soul number that fits The Stones perfectly. Very different from The Temptation version but equally good.

4. Some Girls (2008) Only The Rolling Stone s could have gotten away with these lyrics, they’re as politically incorrect as they possibly could be:

rolling stone 1978 3

White girls they’re pretty funny, sometimes they drive me mad
Black girls just wanna get fucked all night
I just don’t have that much jam
Chinese girls are so gentle, they’re really such a tease
You never know quite what they’re cookin’
Inside those silky sleeves

On “Some Girls,” Mick Jagger sounds like he’s not only singing like Bob Dylan, but about Bob Dylan: “I’ll give ya a house back in Zuma Beach/And give you half of what I owe.” (Rolling Stone Magazine)
Continue reading Today: The Rolling Stones released Some Girls in 1978 – 35 years ago

Bob Dylan – US Summer Tour 1986 – True Confession Tour part 3 (Videos, Audio, and more)

bob dylan tom petty 1986

Before diving into the music of the “US Summer Tour – 86”, let’s look at some videos leading up to the tour.

Let’s kick off with the Tokyo (backstage Budokan) interview. (It should probably have been included in part 2 of this series, but I didn’t find it till now).

10 March 1986
MTV Interview, Backstage, Budokan Hall, Tokyo

…probably I’d do ANY song that I’d ever written, but to put them in a show is a different thing, because it takes time, and there’s not a lotta time when you play for a few hours.
~Bob Dylan (1986-03-10)

..and same place.. with Tom Petty (talking about touring with Dylan):

Continue reading Bob Dylan – US Summer Tour 1986 – True Confession Tour part 3 (Videos, Audio, and more)

Bob Dylan – To Ramona – Rich Stadium – Buffalo, New York – 4 July 1986 (Video)

bob dylan 1986

Ramona
Come closer
Shut softly your watery eyes
The pangs of your sadness
Shall pass as your senses will rise
The flowers of the city
Though breathlike
Get deathlike at times
And there’s no use in tryin’
T’ deal with the dyin’
Though I cannot explain that in lines

Another Great 86-show from the North-American leg. I will post more from this show soon… Here is “To Ramona”.

Rich Stadium
Buffalo, New York
4 July 1986

Musicians:

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)

Your cracked country lips
I still wish to kiss
As to be under the strength of your skin
Your magnetic movements
Still capture the minutes I’m in
But it grieves my heart, love
To see you tryin’ to be a part of
A world that just don’t exist
It’s all just a dream, babe
A vacuum, a scheme, babe
That sucks you into feelin’ like this

I can see that your head
Has been twisted and fed
By worthless foam from the mouth
I can tell you are torn
Between stayin’ and returnin’
On back to the South
You’ve been fooled into thinking
That the finishin’ end is at hand
Yet there’s no one to beat you
No one t’ defeat you
’Cept the thoughts of yourself feeling bad

I’ve heard you say many times
That you’re better ’n no one
And no one is better ’n you
If you really believe that
You know you got
Nothing to win and nothing to lose
From fixtures and forces and friends
Your sorrow does stem
That hype you and type you
Making you feel
That you must be exactly like them

I’d forever talk to you
But soon my words
They would turn into a meaningless ring
For deep in my heart
I know there is no help I can bring
Everything passes
Everything changes
Just do what you think you should do
And someday maybe
Who knows, baby
I’ll come and be cryin’ to you

Check out:

-Egil

The Grateful Dead – Ballad of A Thin Man (video)

grateful dead hapton 1988

Bob Weir’s first take on “Ballad Of A Thin Man”… and its a great one.

This is not an easy song to cover, but I do feel Grateful Dead did capture the spirit of the song.. and it feels right.

Hampton Coliseum
March 27, 1988
Hampton, VA US

Another live version was released on the album “Postcards of the Hanging“:

April 1, 1988 at Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, NJ:

-Egil

Bob Dylan – Far East Leg – True Confession Tour part 2 (Videos, Audio, and more)

bob dylan auckland_1986_front

Well, I usually… I usually try to put in songs which are different in their own context, either structurally or melodically or uh lyrically, that uh, don’t… so it’s not all the same type of material, I try to fill in a larger picture. I don’t know what the total effect of it is. Umm… How do I go about selecting the material? Well, there’s material that I WANT to play, there’s material that I feel I HAVE to play, and, uh, I try to get the material that I feel I have to play into the frame of mind where I want to play the material that I have to play. The rest of it is just stuff I want to play.
~Bob Dylan (Melbourne – 21 Feb 1986)

True Confession Tour:

Start date February 5, 1986
End date August 6, 1986
Legs 3
Shows 15 in Oceania
4 in Asia
41 in North America
60 in Total

The tour started with two concerts in New Zealand and thirteen concerts in Australia before four concerts in Japan. Both Dylan and Petty took a break after this tour before returning to the road in June to perform a forty-one date tour of the United States and Canada. During the tour the pair performed two concerts at the RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, three concerts at the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York City and two concerts at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The tour came to a close on August 6 in Paso Robles, California. The pair would tour together the following year on the Temples in Flames Tour.

~Wikipedia

Intro.

Rehearsals (w/Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) took place in December 1985.

Before they flew over to New Zealand.. Dylan gave a couple of interviews.. Here is one:

January 1986
George Negus interview for “60 Minutes”, Malibu, California:

Oh no, no, I can’t do that, because my songs speak for that. I usually say everything I have to say through the songs. I mean it would be pointless for me to go out and say how I feel about this and how I feel about that. I could never articulate this well.
~Bob Dylan (to George Negus – Jan 1986)

Continue reading Bob Dylan – Far East Leg – True Confession Tour part 2 (Videos, Audio, and more)