Jan Wenner: Of all the versions of This Wheel’s On Fire, which do you like the best? Bob Dylan: Uh… the Band’s. Who else did it? Jan Wenner: Where was that done? Bob Dylan: Well, that was done out in… out in somebody’s basement. Just a basement tape. ~ Jan Wenner Interview Nov 1969
@ #100 on my list of Dylan’s 200 best songs. Recorded in the basement @ The Big Pink, West Saugerties, New York – June – October 1967.
Basement tapes version:
From Wikipedia:
“This Wheel’s on Fire” is a song written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko. It was originally recorded by Dylan and The Band during their 1967 sessions, portions of which (including this song) comprised the 1975 album, The Basement Tapes. The Band’s own version appeared on their 1968 album, Music From Big Pink.
Released
June 26, 1975
Recorded
1967
Genre
Rock
Length
3:49
Label
Columbia
Writer
Bob Dylan, Rick Danko
Producer
Bob Dylan & The Band
Here’s a great live version from Stockholm 1998-06-09:
I always want to run away from A to B, and then I get to B and I wanna go back to A. I think everybody wants to run away.
~Del Shannon
One of the best and most original rockers of the early ’60s, Del Shannon was also one of the least typical. Although classified at times as a teen idol, he favored brooding themes of abandonment, loss, and rejection.
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)
Del Shannon’s induction in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame
Runaway:
From Wikipedia
Birth name
Charles Weedon Westover
Also known as
Charlie Johnson
Born
December 30, 1934
Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
Died
February 8, 1990 (aged 55)
Santa Clarita, California, U.S.
Genres
Rock, country music
Occupations
Singer-songwriter
Instruments
Vocals, guitar
Years active
1958–90
Labels
Bigtop, Twirl, Berlee, Amy, Liberty, Dunhill, United Artists,Island, Elektra, Silvertone
Charles Weedon Westover (December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990), known professionally as Del Shannon, was an American rock and roll singer-songwriter who had a No. 1 hit, “Runaway”, in 1961.
Maybe he had some problems, maybe some things that he couldn’t work out
But he sure was funny and he sure told the truth and he knew what he was talkin’ about
~Bob Dylan (From the lyrics of “Lenny Bruce”)
Here’s a song I wrote a while back about a guy who died pretty miserably actually. I figured I didn’t write this song, nobody would so, somebody had to write it. There’s a great American playwright named Tennessee Williams. He said, “I’m not looking for your pity, I just want your understanding. No, not even that, but just your recognition of me and you and time, the enemy in us all.” Anyway, he died pretty miserably too. So this is a man who got no recognition really during his lifetime. But he laid down a lot of road for a lot of people to walk on. People still walking on that road, making lots of money, living in fine houses. Have plenty of women and eating good food. And he didn’t have none of them things.
~Bob Dylan (before “Lenny Bruce” @ Nippon Budokan Hall – Tokyo, Japan – 10 March 1986)
@ #148 on my list of Dylan’s 200 best songs. A song about the great stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce.
spotify:
The original version from “Shot Of Love” is a very good song.. but there are many live versions that are superior…
Here is a great example:
Live @ Kooyong Stadium – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia – Feb 1986
A very good 88-concert and the sound on the circulating soundboard tape is incredible.
It is concert #15 of the Never Ending Tour & this tour is “labeled” the Interstate 88 Tour, part 1.
#10 – Eileen Aroon
I know a valley fair,
Eileen Aroon
I know a cottage there
Eileen Aroon
Far in the valley shade I know a tender maid
Flow’r of the hazel glade, Eileen Aroon
#3 – You’re A Big Girl Now
Wantagh, New York
Wantagh (pronounced /WAHN-taw/) is a hamlet and census-designated place (an unincorporated section of the town of Hempstead) in Nassau County on Long Island, New York, United States. The population of Wantagh was 18,871 at the time of the 2010 census.
We buy books because we believe we’re buying the time to read them
~Warren Zevon
All the salty margaritas in Los Angeles
I’m gonna drink ’em up
–
And if California slides into the ocean
Like the mystics and statistics say it will
I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill
~Warren Zevon (Desperados Under the Eaves)
Few of rock & roll’s great misanthropes were as talented, as charming, or as committed to their cynicism as Warren Zevon.
~Mark Deming (allmusic.com)
the classic – Warren Zevon’s last Letterman Appearance:
Lawyers, Guns and Money (from BBC 1994):
Send lawyers, guns and money; the shit has hit the fan.
From Wikipedia:
Birth name
Warren William Zevon
Also known as
Sandy Zevon
Stephen Lyme
Born
January 24, 1947
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Died
September 7, 2003 (aged 56)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres
Rock, Country rock, folk rock,Americana, hard rock, piano rock, blues rock
Occupations
Songwriter, musician
Instruments
Vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica
Years active
1965–2003
Warren William Zevon (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician. He was known for the dark and somewhat bizarre sense of humor in his lyrics.
Zevon’s work has often been praised by well-known musicians, including Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. His best-known compositions include “Werewolves of London”, “Lawyers, Guns and Money”, “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner” and “Johnny Strikes Up the Band”, all of which are featured on his third album, Excitable Boy (1978). Other well-known songs written by Zevon have been recorded by other artists, including “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” (a top 40 hit by Linda Ronstadt), “Accidentally Like a Martyr”, “Mohammed’s Radio”, “Carmelita”, and “Hasten Down the Wind”.
BF: Who are some of your favorite songwriters?
Bob Dylan: Buffett I guess. Lightfoot. Warren Zevon. Randy. John Prine. Guy Clark. Those kinds of writers.
~Bob Dylan (to Huffington Post – May 2009)
Hasten Down The Wind:
She’s so many women
He can’t find the one who was his friend
So he’s hanging on to half her heart
He can’t have the restless part
So he tells her to hasten down the wind
~WZ (Hasten down the wind)
Along with his own compositions, Zevon recorded or performed occasional covers, including Allen Toussaint’s A Certain Girl, Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and Leonard Cohen’s “First We Take Manhattan”. He was a frequent guest on Late Night with David Letterman and the Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman later performed guest vocals on “Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)” with Paul Shaffer and members of the CBS Orchestra on Warren Zevon’s My Ride’s Here album.
