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Bob Dylan, Bob Dylans's best songs, The Best Songs

Bob Dylan’s best songs – It Ain’t Me Babe – #46

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bob dylan 1964

You know,  It Ain’t Me Babe was on the radio the other day and it never really occurred to me how different it was as a hit to how it was in my repertoire.
~Bob Dylan (to Adrian Deevoy, Oct 1989)

Save for a faux-reggae arrangement ten years on—one of the absolute highlights of the Renaldo and Clara film—the song has usually relied on the sparsest of acoustic accompaniments in live performance, often serving as a set closer, which tempts one to suggest it addresses the audience—specifically that element that wants the man to stay the same. That ain’t him.
~Clinton Heylin (Revolution in the air)

@ #46 on my list of Dylan’s 200 best songs. Recorded on June 9th, 1964 @ Columbia Studios – NYC. This was the one & only recording session for “Another Side of Bob Dylan”

Bob_Dylan_-_Another_Side_Of_Bob_Dylan

“It Ain’t Me Babe” is a song by Bob Dylan that originally appeared on his fourth album Another Side of Bob Dylan, which was released in 1964 by Columbia Records. The song, along with others on the album, marked a departure for Dylan as he began to explore the possibilities of language and deeper levels of the human experience. Within a year of its release, the song was picked up as a single by artists who were forging the folk rock movement, including The Turtles and The Byrds.
Wikipedia

Go ’way from my window
Leave at your own chosen speed
I’m not the one you want, babe
I’m not the one you need

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Blues, Music Calendar

Today: Eric Clapton is 68

eric clapton

 I am, and always will be, a blues guitarist.
~Eric Clapton

“I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Little Walter. In some way, in some form, my God was always there, but now I have learned to talk to him.”
~Eric Clapton

….Paul Simon writes great songs. George Harrison great songs, a lot of people, Eric Clapton produces wonderful music.
~Bob Dylan (Press Conference, July 1981)

Robbie Robertson inducts Eric Clapton Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000:

Layla:

Birth name Eric Patrick Clapton
Also known as Slowhand
Born March 30, 1945 (age 68)
Ripley, Surrey, England, UK
Genres Rock, blues rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock
Occupations Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, artist
Instruments Vocals, guitar, piano, mandolin
Years active 1962–present

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, (born 30 March 1945) is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and fourth in Gibson’s Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.

eric clapton2

In the mid-1960s, Clapton departed from the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. In his one-year stay with Mayall, Clapton gained the nickname “Slowhand”. Immediately after leaving Mayall, Clapton joined Cream, a power trio with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and “arty, blues-based psychedelic pop.” For most of the 1970s, Clapton’s output bore the influence of the mellow style of J.J. Cale and the reggae of Bob Marley. His version of Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” helped reggae reach a mass market. Two of his most popular recordings were “Layla”, recorded by Derek and the Dominos, another band he formed, and Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads”, recorded by Cream. Following the death of his son Conor in 1991, Clapton’s grief was expressed in the song “Tears in Heaven”, which featured in his Unplugged album.

Tears in heaven (live 1999, NYC)

A recipient of seventeen Grammy Awards, and the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, in 2004 Clapton was awarded a CBE at Buckingham Palace for services to music. In 1998, Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers.

eric clapton3

Wikipedia

John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers – All Your Love:

Album of the day

Slowhand (1977)

EricClapton-Slowhand

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Great albums, Music Calendar

Today: Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy” was released in 1973 – 40 years ago

led zeppelin houses of the holy

The epic scale suited Zeppelin: They had the largest crowds, the loudest rock songs, the most groupies, the fullest manes of hair. Eventually excess would turn into bombast, but on Houses, it still provided inspiration.
~Gavin Edwards (rollingstone.com)

#1 – The Song Remains The Same

Wikipedia

Released 28 March 1973
Recorded January–August 1972, Stargrovesand Headley Grange with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, and Island Studios, London; Mixed at Olympic Studios, London and Electric Lady Studios, New York
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal
Length 40:58
Language English
Label Atlantic
Producer Jimmy Page

Houses of the Holy is the fifth studio album by English rock band Led Zeppelin, released by Atlantic Records on 28 March 1973. It is the first Led Zeppelin album composed of entirely original material, and represents a musical turning point for the band, who had begun to record songs with more layering and production techniques.

During the sessions, Led Zeppelin also recorded a song named “Houses of the Holy”, and planned to make it the album’s title track. However, the band eventually decided that it didn’t fit in, and the song was instead released on their next album, Physical Graffiti.

  • Houses of the Holy was certified 11× Platinum by the RIAA
  • In 2012, it was ranked number 148 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

led zeppelin houses-of-the-holy-back

 But side two begins with two amazing, well, dance tracks–the transmogrified shuffle is actually called “Dancing Days,” while “D’Yer Mak’er” is a reggae, or “reggae”
~Robert Christgau (http://www.robertchristgau.com)

#5 – Dancing Days

Album Sleeve Design

The cover art for Houses of the Holy was inspired by the ending of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End, which involves several hundred million naked children, only slightly and physically resembling the human race in basic forms. The cover is a collage of several photographs which were taken at the Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland, by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. This location was chosen ahead of an alternative one in Peru which was being considered.

NI_710.tif
Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland

 Critical reaction

Upon its release, the album received some mixed reviews, with much criticism from the music press being directed at the off-beat nature of tracks such as “The Crunge” and “D’yer Mak’er”. However, the album was very successful commercially, entering the UK chart at number one, while in America its 39-week run (2 of them spent at number one) on the Billboard Top 40 was their longest since their third album.

#2 – The Rain Song

Full album on youtube:

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Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan Concerts

Bob Dylan – Troy, New York 27 October 1989 (Videos)

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bob dylan 1989

Here we have a good 89-concert from the “Fall US 89 tour”.

#5 – I Want You

Houston Fieldhouse
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, New York
27 October 1989

  1.  Gotta Serve Somebody
  2. What Good Am I?
  3. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
  4. Lenny Bruce
  5. I Want You
  6. I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
  7. Highway 61 Revisited
  8. Mama, You Been On My Mind
  9. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
  10. To Ramona
  11. It Ain’t Me, Babe
  12. Everything Is Broken
  13. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
  14. My Back Pages
  15. I’ll Remember You
  16. I Shall Be Released
  17. Like A Rolling Stone
    —
  18. Disease Of Conceit
  19. Maggie’s Farm
  • 8-11 Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), G.E. Smith (guitar)
  • 1, 18 Bob Dylan piano
  • 2, 5, 8, 10, 11 Bob Dylan harmonica.

Band:

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • G. E. Smith (guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • Christopher Parker (drums)

#8 – Mama, You Been On My Mind

The Never Ending Tour 1989 started in Sweden with a performance at Christinehof’s Slottspark on May 22. This was only the fourth time that Dylan had performed in Sweden. He then performed in Finland, his second performance there, before returning to Sweden. He then performed two concerts in Dublin, Ireland, the first time that he had performed there since 1965. Dylan then performed in Glasgow, Scotland his second only performance in the country. The first being in 1966. After performing concerts in Birmingham and London Dylan performed in the Netherlands, Belgium and France, Dylan performed three concerts in Spain, four in Italy, a single concert in Turkey and two concerts in Greece.
After finishing the European tour Dylan returned to the United States performing at many of the same venues that he had performed in the year before, on the first year of the Never Ending Tour. Dylan continued to perform in the United States and Canada until November 15.
–
Wikipedia

Go ’way from my window
Leave at your own chosen speed
I’m not the one you want, babe
I’m not the one you need
You say you’re lookin’ for someone
Never weak but always strong
To protect you an’ defend you
Whether you are right or wrong
Someone to open each and every door
But it ain’t me, babe
No, no, no, it ain’t me, babe
It ain’t me you’re lookin’ for, babe

#11 – It Ain’t Me Babe

Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital District. The city is one of the three major centers for the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which has a population of 850,957. At the 2010 census, the population of Troy was 50,129. Troy’s motto is Ilium fuit, Troja est, which means “Ilium was, Troy is”.
Troy is known as the Collar City due to its history in shirt, collar, and other textile production. At one point Troy was also the second largest producer of iron in the country, surpassed only by the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Rensselaer School, which later became Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was founded in 1824 with funding from Stephen Van Rensselaer, a descendant of the founding patroon, Kiliaen. In 1821, Emma Willard founded the Troy Female Seminary on 2nd Street, which moved to its current location on Pawling Avenue in 1910. It was renamed Emma Willard School in 1895. The former Female Seminary was later reopened (1916) as Russell Sage College, thanks to funding fromOlivia Slocum Sage, the widow of financier and Congressman Russell Sage. All of these institutions still exist today.troy new yorkHouston Field House is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York. It is the nation’s third-oldest hockey rink, behind Northeastern University’s Matthews Arena and Princeton University’s Hobey Baker Memorial Rink. Further, it is the second-oldest arena in the ECAC Hockey League, behind Princeton’s rink. Until the opening of the Times Union Center in Albany in 1990, it was the largest arena in the Capital Region.hudson field house troyWikipedia

Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin’ high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
“We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I
Proud ’neath heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

#14 – My Back Pages

They say ev’rything can be replaced
Yet ev’ry distance is not near
So I remember ev’ry face
Of ev’ry man who put me here
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released

#16 – I Shall Be Released

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-Egil

Motown, Music Calendar

Today: Diana Ross is 69

Diana Ross

My travels led me to where I am today. Sometimes these steps have felt painful, difficult, but led me to greater happiness and opportunites.
~Diana Ross

You know, you do need mentors, but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself.
~Diana Ross

Love Child (1968)

Wikipedia:

Birth name Diana Ernestine Earle Ross
Born March 26, 1944 (age 69)
Detroit, Michigan
Genres R&B, soul, disco, jazz, pop, dance
Occupations Singer, record producer, actress
Years active 1959–present
Labels Lu Pine, Motown, RCA, EMI
Associated acts The Supremes, The Temptations, The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie
Website www.dianaross.de

Diana Ernestine Earle Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American vocalist, music artist and actress.

Ross first rose to fame as a founding member and lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that has included successful ventures into film and Broadway. She received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues (1972), for which she won a Golden Globe award for most promising female newcomer. She has won seven American Music Awards, and won a Special Tony Award for her one-woman show, An Evening with Diana Ross, in 1977.

diana ross

When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes:

  • In 1976, Billboard magazine named her the “Female Entertainer of the Century.” 
  • In 1993, the Guinness Book of World Records declared Diana Ross the most successful female music artist in history due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more hits than any female artist in the charts with a career total of 70 hit singles. 
  • Diana Ross has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. 
  • In 1988, Ross was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as member of the Supremes alongside Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson.
  • Ross is one of the few recording artists to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one as a solo artist and the other as a member of The Supremes.
  • In December 2007, she received the Kennedy Center Honors.
  • In 2012, Diana was finally honored by NARAS with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in her 50th year in the music business.

diana ross 2

Album of the day

Gold (2005)

The Supremes - gold

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