All posts by Egil

Bob Dylan’s best songs: I’m Not There (1956)





bob-dylan-basement-tapes-complete

“No, I don’t belong to her, I don’t belong to anybody
She’s my Christ forsaken angel but she don’t hear me cry
She’s a lone hearted mystic and she can’t carry on
When I’m there she’s alright but then she’s not when I’m gone”
-from “I´m Not There”

There are times you just pick up an instrument—something will come . . . some kind of wild line will come into your head and you’ll develop that. If it’s a tune on the piano or guitar . . . you’ll write those words down. And they might not mean anything to you at all, and you just go on. . . . Now, . . . if I do it, I just keep it for myself. So I have a big lineup of songs which I’ll never use.
—Dylan, Sing Out! June 1968

Finally, for its fortieth birthday, it received an official release under the same name as the film it unwittingly inspired, “I’m Not There.” Hallelujah.
-Clinton Heylin (Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1957-1973)

“Dylan’s saddest song, achieved without benefit of context or detail. It’s like listening to the inspiration before the song is wrapped around it.”
-John Bauldie (The Telegraph)

TOC

  1. Facts
  2. Lyrics
  3. Live versions / other notable versions

Continue reading Bob Dylan’s best songs: I’m Not There (1956)

Nov 19: Bob Dylan performing “Restless Farewell” @ Shrine Auditorium LA, California 1995





bob dylan shrine 1995

 

Oh all the money that in my whole life I did spend
Be it mine right or wrongfully
I let it slip gladly past the hands of my friends
To tie up the time most forcefully
But the bottles are done
We’ve killed each one
And the table’s full and overflowed
And the corner sign
Says it’s closing time
So I’ll bid farewell and be down the road

Dylan is part of an all-star cast who have convened at the Shrine to celebrate Frank Sinatra’s eightieth birthday. While cameras roll and Sinatra is seated in A 18, DyIan unveils a remarkable version of” Restless Farewell,” all five verses sung with a nervy precision, accompanied by his usual musical misfits and a string quartet. The whole thing is actually rather moving, as is Sinatra’s seemingly genuine enthusiasm for the performance, which is subsequently broadcast on cable TV.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)

Shrine Auditorium
Los Angeles, California
19 November 1995
Frank Sinatra 80th Birthday Tribute

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Bucky Baxter (pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
  • John Jackson (guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • Winston Watson (drums & percussion)
  • ….. and a string quartet with unidentified musicians

Continue reading Nov 19: Bob Dylan performing “Restless Farewell” @ Shrine Auditorium LA, California 1995

November 19: Bob Dylan @ MSG New York City in 2001 (full concert video)





bob dylan new york nov 2001
2001 was a fine year for Bob Dylan’s “Never Ending Tour”.

.. the show was superbly recorded and much of the atmosphere does come across. “Forever Young” sounds like a benediction on the self-healing residents of the suffering city. “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and, especially, “Blowin’ In The Wind” with its line “and too many people have died” have a special feel to them; a feeling that you can sense is being supplied almost as much by the audience as the performers. “Searching For A Soldier’s Grave” and Fred Rose’s song “Wait For The Light To Shine” cannot help but do the same, and the carefully-controlled lighting effects all added to the ambience.
~Andrew Muir (One More Night: Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour)

A great & very special New York concert only 2 months after 9/11.

Continue reading November 19: Bob Dylan @ MSG New York City in 2001 (full concert video)

November 19: The classic Bob Dylan “60 Minutes” interview with Ed Bradley – 2004

Redirecting to a newer version of this post….

This is a great interview, it was his first television interview in almost 20 years. Solid performance by our man.. and Mr. Bradley as well.

The interview is supposed to have lasted 90 min, only about 10 were included in the CBS show 60 Minutes broadcast 6 December 2004. Another 10 min are circulating among collectors.

Here is the broadcasted interview & the text is included below the embedded video. The text from the interview is based on the circulating tape.

Continue reading November 19: The classic Bob Dylan “60 Minutes” interview with Ed Bradley – 2004

Nov 18: Bob Dylan at Santa Monica, CA – 1979





bob dylan santa monica 1979

Thank you. I suppose you’ve been reading the newspapers and watching the TV? And you see how much trouble this world is in. Madmen running loose everywhere. Anyway we, we’re not worried about that though — it doesn’t bother us — because we know this world is going to be destroyed. Christ will set up his kingdom for a thousand years in Jerusalem where the lion will lie down with the lamb — we know this is true. No doubt about it. So, it’s a slow train coming. It’s been coming for a long time, but it’s picking up speed.
~Bob Dylan(before Slow Train – Santa Monica first show 1979)

The first gospel tour (Nov 1, 1979 – Dec 9, 1979) might be the best of the the three gospel tours, here is a wonderful show from – first of four @ Santa Monica.

And we love the Gospel tours !

Civic Auditorium
Santa Monica, California
18 November 1979

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Fred Tackett (guitar)
  • Spooner Oldham (keyboards)
  • Tim Drummond (bass)
  • Terry Young (keyboards)
  • Jim Keltner (drums)
  • Regina Mcrary , Helena Springs , Mona Lisa Young (background vocals)

Continue reading Nov 18: Bob Dylan at Santa Monica, CA – 1979