Category Archives: Bob Dylan

The Songs he didn’t write: Bob Dylan The Lakes of Pontchartrain

pontchartrain dylanO’er railroad ties and crossings
I made my weary way,
Through swamps and elevations
My tired feet did stray
Until I resolved at sunset
Some higher ground to win.
‘Twas there I met with a Creole girl
By the lake of Ponchartrain.

The Lakes of Pontchartrain is an American (US) ballad about a man who is given shelter by a beautiful Louisiana Creole woman. He falls in love with her and asks her to marry him, but she is already promised to a sailor and declines.

According to BobDylan.com Dylan played it 18 times live from 1988 to 1991.
Bob Dylan sings fantastic on the two versions I managed to dig up (Neil Young was on stage with Dylan on both these occasions).

Paul Brady has done maybe the most known version of this traditional song. Here is a video where he talks about how he learned Bob Dylan to play The Lakes of Pontchartrain:

This is a great version from Bob Dylan in New Jersey 1988, June 24 :

Continue reading The Songs he didn’t write: Bob Dylan The Lakes of Pontchartrain

July 21: Bob Dylan live in Vienna 1981 (2 audience films)

Vienna 1981 4Shot Of Love Tour Concert #25

I have a double DVD set of this concert in my collection. The pictures are taken from one (or both?) of the audience films included here, but the sound is so much better!

Let’s Begin from the sound upgraded DVD:

It is one of the real gems from Europe 81. It is too bad it’s not on YouTube or one of the other video sharing sites. What I have found are two concerts that are documents from a fantastic tour. They are both worth watching, but I think you should seek out the “release” with the sound upgrade.

Continue reading July 21: Bob Dylan live in Vienna 1981 (2 audience films)

July 20: Bob Dylan released Like A Rolling Stone in 1965





Bob-Dylan-like-a-rolling-stone

July 20: Bob Dylan released Like A Rolling Stone in 1965

“This is about growing up, this is about discovering what is going on around you, realizing that life isn’t all you’ve been told. So now you’re without a home, you’re on your own, complete unknown, like a rolling stone. That’s a liberating thing. This is a song about liberation.”
— Jann Wenner, Rolling Stone magazine (Greil Marcus – Like A Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads (book))

“The first time I heard Bob Dylan, I was in the car with my mother listening to WMCA, and on came that snare shot that sounded like somebody had kicked open the door to your mind” – Bruce Springsteen (Jan 1988)

“When I heard Like a Rolling Stone, I wanted to quit the music business because I felt: ‘If this wins and it does what it’s supposed to do, I don’t need to do anything else.'”
– Frank Zappa (1965 )

The first time I really listened to “Like A Rolling Stone”, I felt I entered a parallel universe.. a place of intense beauty.. a place filled with this wonderful blues-fueled rock music… and a spellbinding ..organ! I had never heard anything like it.. anything this good..

That was the day I understood that there is bad music, good music, great music & then there is Bob Dylan. He plays in another league. His musical universe is still as beautiful now as it was first time I flew into it.. “Like A Rolling Stone” still sounds as fresh as it did the first time I listened ~30 years ago. (Egil, alldylan.com)

Like A  Rolling Stone:

Continue reading July 20: Bob Dylan released Like A Rolling Stone in 1965

July 20: Bob Dylan – Not Dark Yet – Albany, New York 1999 (Video)

bob dylan albany 1999

 

Shadows are falling and I’ve been here all day
It’s too hot to sleep, time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I’ve still got the scars that the sun didn’t heal
There’s not even room enough to be anywhere
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

Pepsi Arena
Albany, New York
20 July 1999

Musicians:

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Charlie Sexton (guitar)
  • Larry Campbell (guitar, mandolin, pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • David Kemper (drums & percussion)

Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writing what was in her mind
I just don’t see why I should even care
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

Well, I’ve been to London and I’ve been to gay Paree
I’ve followed the river and I got to the sea
I’ve been down on the bottom of a world full of lies
I ain’t looking for nothing in anyone’s eyes
Sometimes my burden seems more than I can bear
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

I was born here and I’ll die here against my will
I know it looks like I’m moving, but I’m standing still
Every nerve in my body is so vacant and numb
I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don’t even hear a murmur of a prayer
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

Check out:

-Egil

July 20: Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana – Happy Birthday Carlos Santana


Dylan-Baez-Santana

July 20: Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana – Happy Birthday Carlos Santana

Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican and American rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, Latin music and jazz fusion. The band’s sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music.

Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine listed Santana at number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

He has been on stage/tour with our man, Bob Dylan and we have dug up some of their moments together.

Happy Birthday, Carlos!

Bob Dylan & Carlos Santana Blowin’ In The Wind (Barcelona,1984):

Bob Dylan & Carlos Santana Interview:

Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana – Tombstone blues (1984?):

Continue reading July 20: Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana – Happy Birthday Carlos Santana