“You thought it was all over after Blood On The Tracks? Well it’s not dark yet. In fact, it’s not even getting there. Here are ten songs you need, from Street Legal onwards.”
– Nigel Williamson
Nigel Williamson is a British journalist and author. Educated at University College London, Williamson worked as a reporter on Tribune (1982–84) and was then briefly its literary editor (1984) before becoming editor (1984–87) as successor to Chris Mullin.
He writes on pop and world music for a variety of publications, including the magazines Uncut and Songlines. He has also written books, among them, The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan. He made 4 Bob Dylan playlists for The Rough Guide Book of playlists.
Nigel Williamson is a British journalist and author. Educated at University College London, Williamson worked as a reporter on Tribune (1982–84) and was then briefly its literary editor (1984) before becoming editor (1984–87) as successor to Chris Mullin.
He writes on pop and world music for a variety of publications, including the magazines Uncut and Songlines. He has also written books, among them, The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan.
He made 4 Bob Dylan playlists for The Rough Guide Book of playlists, this is the 2nd of them:
Here is a 1993 clip of Jeff Buckley at a poetry event, reading an apology letter he wrote to his idol Bob Dylan. The reading is included on a CD accompanying the book The Spoken Word Revolution Redux.
“Dear Bob,
And I don’t know what purpose this will serve at all.
I don’t know how to start. Last Saturday, my man, Steve Burkowitz, broke it to me that you were told of something I said from the stage and that you’d felt insulted. I need for you to listen to me. I have no way of knowing how my words are translated to you, if they’re whole meaning and context are intact, but the truth is that I was off on a tangent, on a stage, my mind going where it goes, trying to be funny, it wasn’t funny at all and I fucked up, I really fucked up.
And the worst of it isn’t that your boys were at the gig to hear it. It doesn’t really bother me. It just kills me to know that whatever they told you was what you think I think of you-
not that I love you, not that I’ve always listened to you and carried the music with me wherever I go, not that I believe in you and also that your show was great. It was only the separate club crowd that I was cynical about and that’s what I was trying to get at when I said what I said.And I’m sorry that I’ll never get to make another first impression. You were really gracious to me, to even allow me backstage to meet you. I’ll never forget you, what you told me for as long as I live. He said “Make a good record man” and I’m very honored to have met you at all. He said some other shit too,
I’m only sad that I didn’t get a chance to tell you before all this intrigue, the intrigue is not the truth. Lots of eyes will read this letter before it gets to you, Bob, which I accept. Someday you will know exactly what I mean, man to man.
Always be well, Jeff Buckley
And you know who’s going to read this? The President of Sony Records, my A&R man, my manager, his two managers, his friend Ratzo, and this is my personal plea of love to Bob Dylan, and this is what happens when you’re not nobody anymore.”
Here are the songs that Jeff Buckley sang and Bob Dylan wrote.
Just Like A Woman – Jeff Buckley, Live at Palais Theatre, Melbourne on February 27 1996:
In West Palm Beach, Florida, September 2, 1999 at Coral Sky Amphitheatre Bob Dylan threw in a surprise performance of Dwight Yoakam’s song, The Heart You Own.
“The biggest surprise followed when Dylan pulled out Dwight Yoakam’s “The
Heart that You Own.” Larry played pedal steel and Bob had some good vocals.
The song was performed well and Bob seemed really into it. It was also
interesting that no one I spoke to around me knew what song it was, though
everyone definitely liked it.”
They declared me unfit to live, said into that great void my soul be hurled. They wanted to know why I did what I did; Well sir, I guess there’s just a meanness in this world. –Nebraska
“The fact that you didn’t intend to release it makes it the most intimate record you’ll ever do. This is an absolutely legitimate piece of art.” Steven Van Zandt
“I felt that it was my best writing. I felt I was getting better as a writer. I was learning things. I was certainly taking a hard look at everything around me.” Bruce Springsteen
I really love this album. I did not buy it in 1982 I got it a few years later, I listened to it at the record store when it was released, but it didn’t impress me. I couldn’t connect to it musically or lyrically. It is not an album that imidiately catches your attention, it needs to be listened to, properly.
When I did that I became very impressed!
Some facts (from Wikipedia):
Released
September 30, 1982
Recorded
Mostly January 3, 1982 at Springsteen’s Colts Neck, New Jersey bedroom
Genre
Americana, folk rock, folk
Length
40:50
Label
Columbia
Producer
Bruce Springsteen
Nebraska is the sixth studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1982 on Columbia Records.
