Tag Archives: Pay in Blood

September 7: Tempest by Bob Dylan was released in 2012

Bob_Dylan-Tempest

Shine your light
Movin’ on
You burned so bright
Roll on, John

Three years have gone since we was offered Tempest from Bob Dylan, it still sounds great.

Tempest is the thirty-fifth studio album by Dylan, released on September 7 to 11 (different countries and continents), 2012 . The album was recorded at Jackson Browne’s Groove Masters Studios in Santa Monica, California. Dylan wrote all of the songs himself with the exception of the track “Duquesne Whistle”, which he co-wrote with Robert Hunter.

Tempest was very well received by contemporary music critics, who praised its traditional music influences and Dylan’s dark lyrics. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200.

The album’s title initially spurred rumors that it would be Dylan’s final album, based on its similarity to the title of Shakespeare’s final play.
Dylan later responded:

“Shakespeare’s last play was called The Tempest. It wasn’t called just plain “Tempest”. The name of my record is just plain Tempest. It’s two different titles.”

Some facts from Wikipedia:

Released From September 7 to September 11, 2012
Recorded January–March 2012 at Groove Masters Studios in Santa Monica, California
Genre Rock, folk rock
Length 1:08:31
Label Columbia
Producer Bob Dylan

Here are three tracks from Tempest (with my analysis, sort of…):

Tin Angel 
“For me, after listening to it for two days, the most obvious masterpiece on Bob Dylan’s new album is the murder ballad, Tin Angel. It’s a story-song, the kind Dylan has done so magnificently many times before. Cross the Green Mountain, Tweeter and the Monkey Man and  Brownsville Girl springs to mind. They are extremely cinematic songs and they tell a story over many verses.  Another song that pops up in my head is the wonderful story of Spanish Jack by Willy DeVille, not very like in sound but in tone.”  Read More…

Pay in Blood
“Bob Dylan says the stigma of slavery ruined America and he doubts the country can get rid of the shame because it was “founded on the backs of slaves.”

Bob Dylan told in a recent interview with Rolling Stone Magazine that in America “people are at each other’s throats just because they are of a different color, it will hold any nation back.” He went on to say that black people know that some white people  “didn’t want to give up slavery.””  Read more…

Scarlet Town
“The song feels like a mash of several songs, and that’s actually what it is. He draws inspiration from the old ballad Barbara Allen, but he just uses it as a framework to tell an even more sinister tale. The new parts of the song also feels like a split between two different songs, one set in biblical times and the other addressing the state of USA/The Western world today.”  Read more…

Continue reading September 7: Tempest by Bob Dylan was released in 2012

Great song: Pay in Blood by Bob Dylan – A land built on slavery.

Bob Dylan says the stigma of slavery ruined America and he doubts the country can get rid of the shame because it was “founded on the backs of slaves.”

Bob Dylan told in a recent interview with Rolling Stone Magazine that in America “people are at each other’s throats just because they are of a different color, it will hold any nation back.” He went on to say that black people know that some white people  “didn’t want to give up slavery.”

Dylan continued with, “If slavery had been given up in a more peaceful way, America would be far ahead today.”

When asked on his opinion if President Barack Obama was helping to shift a change, Dylan said: “I don’t have any opinion on that. You have to change your heart if you want to change.”

My third choice of songs from Bob Dylan’s new album is the “angry speech”, Pay in Blood. I call it an angry speech because it is clearly a man with lot on his mind who vents his thoughts in this song, or maybe it is three men? It is not a story-song (as such), this is someone’s view of their world at a particular moment. This man is, Bob Dylan, on one level. It’s about his life, but it is also so much more. Again I think it paints a picture of Americas past and present.

Continue reading Great song: Pay in Blood by Bob Dylan – A land built on slavery.

November 22 & 24: Bob Dylan: Blackpool, England, 2013 (Audios & Videos)

bob dylan blackpool 2013Bob Dylan – November 24 – performing “Roll On John”

I’ve already posted clips & facts from November 23, here’s more from the two other concerts.

One of the main highlights is off course the debut of “Roll On John”; both audio & video included.

Blackpool, England
Opera House Theatre
November 22 & 24, 2013

  • Bob Dylan – piano, harp
  • Tony Garnier – bass
  • George Recile – drums
  • Stu Kimball – rhythm guitar
  • Charlie Sexton on lead guitar
  • Donnie Herron – banjo, violin, electric mandolin, pedal steel, lap steel

22 November

Tangled Up In Blue:

Continue reading November 22 & 24: Bob Dylan: Blackpool, England, 2013 (Audios & Videos)

Bob Dylan: Blackpool, England, November 23, 2013 (Video & Audio)

bob dylan blackpool 2013

Blackpool, England
Opera House Theatre
November 23, 2013

  • Bob Dylan – piano, harp
  • Tony Garnier – bass
  • George Recile – drums
  • Stu Kimball – rhythm guitar
  • Charlie Sexton on lead guitar
  • Donnie Herron – banjo, violin, electric mandolin, pedal steel, lap steel

  1. Things Have Changed (Bob center stage)
  2. She Belongs To Me (Bob center stage with harp)
    Soundcloud: Things have changed & She belongs to me:

    Continue reading Bob Dylan: Blackpool, England, November 23, 2013 (Video & Audio)

Bob Dylan – Pay In Blood – California, Pennsylvania – 13 April 2013 (Video)

bob dylan 2013

Well I’m grinding my life out, steady and sure
Nothing more wretched than what I must endure
I’m drenched in the light that shines from the sun
I could stone you to death for the wrongs that you done
Sooner or later you make a mistake,
I’ll put you in a chain that you never will break
Legs and arms and body and bone
I pay in blood, but not my own

Convocation Center
California University of Pennsylvania
California, Pennsylvania
13 April 2013

  • Bob Dylan (vocal, grand piano)
  • Stu Kimball (guitar)
  • Duke Robillard (guitar)
  • Donnie Herron (violin, mandolin, steel guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • George Receli (drums & percussion)

Night after night, Day after day
They strip your useless hopes away
The more I take the more I give
The more I die the more I live
I got something in my pocket make your eyeballs swim
I got dogs could tear you limb from limb
I’m circlin’ around the Southern Zone
I pay in blood, but not my own.

Low cards are what I’ve got
But I’ll play this hand whether I like it or not
I’m sworn to uphold the laws of God
You could put me out in front of a firing squad
I’ve been out and around with the rising men
Just like you my handsome friend
My head’s so hard, must be made of stone
I pay in blood, but not my own

Another politician coming out the abyss
Another angry beggar blowing you a kiss
You got the same eyes that your mother does
If only you could prove who your father was
Someone must of slipped a drug in yer wine
You gulped it down and you cross the line
Man can’t live by bread alone
I pay in blood, but not my own

How I made it back home, nobody knows
Or how I survived so many blows
I’ve been thru Hell, What good did it do?
You bastard! I’m suppose to respect you!
I’ll give you justice, I’ll fathom your purse
Show me your moral that you reversed

Hear me holler and hear me moan
I pay in blood but not my own
You get your lover in the bed
Come here I’ll break your lousy head
Our nation must be saved and freed
You’ve been accused of murder, how do you plead?
This is how I spend my days
I came to bury, not to raise
I’ll drink my fill and sleep alone
I play in blood, but not my own

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-Egil