Well, I thought that the rain would cool things down
But it looks like it don’t
I’d like to get you to change your mind
But it looks like you won’t
~Bob Dylan from “Seeing The Real You at Last”Edward G. Robinson, in his 1948 film (costarring Humphrey Bogart) Key Largo, mutters, “Think this rain would cool things off, but it don’t”; Dylan transmutes this into the opening lines of “Seeing the Real You at Last,” a song which gives some indication of being almost entirely composed of film dialogue, a veritable tour de force of imaginative borrowing. Our detectives have identified another line from Key Largo, two sets of lines from The Maltese Falcon (Bogart: “I don’t mind a reasonable amount of trouble” and, to Mary Astor, ”I’ll have some rotten nights after I’ve sent you over, but that’ll pass”), two bits of Bogart/Lauren Bacall dialog (one from To Have and Have Not, the other the closing lines of The Big Sleep), plus lines from The Hustler and from a Clint Eastwood film called Bronco Billy … all in “Seeing the Real You at Last.”
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, Vol 2: The Middle Years 1974-1986) What I got out of Buddy [Holly] was that you can take influences from anywhere. Like his ‘That’ll be the Day’. I read somewhere that it was a line he heard in a movie, and I started realizing you can take things from everyday life that you hear people say. I still find that true. You can go anywhere in daily life and have your ears open and hear something … If it has resonance, you can use it in a song.
~Bob Dylan (to Robert Hilburn, 2004)
This is not a particular good Dylan song (not even close to top 200), but he’s given some interesting live versions over a period from 1986 – 2004.
First performance: Athletic Park, Wellington, New Zealand – 5 February 1986
Last performance: Stabler Arena, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania – 16 November 2004.
It has been performed 247 times live.
Here are five of them:
–
–
–
–
–
From now on I’ll be busy
Ain’t goin’ nowhere fast
I’m just glad it’s over
And I’m seeing the real you at lastWell, didn’t I risk my neck for you
Didn’t I take chances?
Didn’t I rise above it all for you
The most unfortunate circumstances?Well, I have had some rotten nights
Didn’t think that they would pass
I’m just thankful and grateful
To be seeing the real you at lastI’m hungry and I’m irritable
And I’m tired of this bag of tricks
At one time there was nothing wrong with me
That you could not fixWell, I sailed through the storm
Strapped to the mast
But the time has come
And I’m seeing the real you at lastWhen I met you, baby
You didn’t show no visible scars
You could ride like Annie Oakley
You could shoot like Belle StarrWell, I don’t mind a reasonable amount of trouble
Trouble always comes to pass
But all I care about now
Is that I’m seeing the real you at lastWell, I’m gonna quit this baby talk now
I guess I should have known
I got troubles, I think maybe you got troubles
I think maybe we’d better leave each other aloneWhatever you gonna do
Please do it fast
I’m still trying to get used to
Seeing the real you at last
–
Check out:
-Egil
alldylan.com will merge with borntolisten.com. Please check out borntolisten.com & subscribe.
Bob Dylan performing Warren Zevon's wonderful "Mutineer".
On January 21, 1966 Bob Dylan recorded one of his best songs "She's Your Lover…
Bob Dylan recorded "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" on November 30, 1965. Here…
Happy 81st Birthday Gordon Lightfoot (November 17, 1938). This post includes audio of Bob Dylan…
Bob Dylan covers Neil Young's "Old Man" - 3 versions from 2002.