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
Continue reading July 16: Watch Bob Dylan & Norah Jones: I Shall Be Released Seattle 2005
Well, they’ll stone ya when you’re trying to be so good
They’ll stone ya just a-like they said they would
They’ll stone ya when you’re tryin’ to go home
Then they’ll stone ya when you’re there all alone
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned
Rainy Day Women happens to deal with a minority of, you know, cripples and orientals and, uh, you know, and the world in which they live, you realize, you know, you understand, you know. It’s another sort of a North Mexican kind of a thing, uh, very protesty. Very, very protesty. And, uh, one of the protestiest of all things I ever protested against in my protest years. But, uh…
~Bob Dylan (to Klas Burling – April 1966)
The memorable joke in the chorus is about marijuana (although it could just as easily be about alcohol), but the song as a whole is about persecution, specifically criticism, and the message in the chorus is a straightforward one: it happens to everybody, so don’t feel bad (and, implicitly, don’t be such a victim about it).
The combination drunk party/revival meeting sound of the song is wonderful, a product of the unique musical chemistry Dylan and the Nashville studio musicians (under the leadership of Charlie McCoy and producer Bob Johnston, with help from Kooper and Robertson) achieved during these freewheeling ses- sions. This is not country music. This is not Dylan music as defined by any earlier Dylan album. It’s only rock and roll in the broadest, most all-encompassing sense..
-Paul Williams
Continue reading Bob Dylan’s Songs: Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
“Hey Joe” is an American popular song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and as such has been performed in many musical styles by hundreds of different artists. “Hey Joe” tells the story of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooting his unfaithful wife. However, diverse credits and claims have led to confusion as to the song’s true authorship and genesis. The earliest known commercial recording of the song is the late-1965 single by the Los Angeles garage band The Leaves; the band then re-recorded the track and released it in 1966 as a follow-up single which became a hit.
I was thinking of a series of dreams
Where nothing comes up to the top
Everything stays down where it’s wounded
And comes to a permanent stop
Wasn’t thinking of anything specific
Like in a dream, when someone wakes up and screams
Nothing too very scientific
Just thinking of a series of dreams
I was thinking of a series of dreams
Where nothing comes up to the top
Everything stays down where it’s wounded
And comes to a permanent stop
Wasn’t thinking of anything specific
Like in a dream, when someone wakes up and screams
Nothing too very scientific
Just thinking of a series of dreams
Thinking of a series of dreams
Where the time and the tempo fly
And there’s no exit in any direction
‘Cept the one that you can’t see with your eyes
Wasn’t making any great connection
Wasn’t falling for any intricate scheme
Nothing that would pass inspection
Just thinking of a series of dreams
Dreams where the umbrella is folded
Into the path you are hurled
And the cards are no good that you’re holding
Unless they’re from another world
In one, the surface was frozen
In another, I witnessed a crime
In one, I was running, and in another
All I seemed to be doing was climb
Wasn’t looking for any special assistance
Not going to any great extremes
I’d already gone the distance
Just thinking of a series of dreams
Dreams where the umbrella is folded
Into the path you are hurled
And the cards are no good that you’re holding
Unless they’re from another world
I’d already gone the distance
Just thinking of a series of dreams
Bob Dylan in Osaka – Feb 12, 1994:
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Playing his first show in Newcastle in 18 years, and to an English-speaking audience for rhe first time on this tour, Dylan clearly enjoys the experience. One highlight is a lengthy “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” Dylan’s harmonica dueling with Santana’s guitar. The next day the Newcastle Evening Chronicle proclaims that, “Dylan the magician had breathed the kiss of life all over his work.” The concert is recorded officially, and “License to Kill” and “Tombstone Blues” both feature on Real Live.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995
Continue reading July 5: Bob Dylan @ St. James’ Park, Newcastle, England 1984 (videos)